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- M4v3rIC, on 08/09/2008, -0/+12As a past national swimmer, I know that body-suits allow you to go faster - But i've heard from a lot of poeple that the LZR is just like any other body-suit. Although it incorporates new technologies, only the 10 fastest people in the world would be able to take advantage of the suit, like Michael Phelps (and the advantage could only be 1/10th of a second). Also, worlds records have been broken, but not because of this suit. it's just coincidentally that world records were broken while the suit was worn. World records get broken every year despite the technology, even by people who don't wear bodysuits.
- trixyfox, on 08/09/2008, -0/+12They forgot doping tests.
- gbarberi, on 08/08/2008, -1/+13Some of this technology, like the precool vest, is fine. Some, like the air pistol, just take away from the sport.
- 1badarsemuther, on 08/09/2008, -0/+12Nike has riding boots?
I had no idea. Really...no idea. - rawrzzz, on 08/09/2008, -0/+10How about we just do it naked? Everyone wins, including the spectators.
- Matsky, on 08/09/2008, -1/+11How can you really feel that you've "beaten" a record when you've got all this new tech the old guys didn't have?
- wolfing, on 08/09/2008, -4/+13If we continue down this road, who's stopping anyone from creating super legs for sprinters, or shoes with springs for jumpers, or guided bullets or rows that push water, etc?
I think they should just have standard clothes and gears for all athletes participating, as it's slowly becoming not so much about what country has the best athletes, but who has the best technology. - jerryterhorst, on 08/09/2008, -1/+5i guess its a common misconception that rowing is about upper-body strength. i rowed for a semester in college, and what you dont realize is that the rowers are basically doing a squat every movement for 2-3 minutes. that's why taller people are always more desirable for the sport--more leverage and more power from their longer legs.
- Culyt, on 08/09/2008, -1/+5I don't really see better technology is any worse than having superior genetics or training equipment/methods. Large countries can get Olympic sized swimming pools dedicated for their swimming team. Other countries have to make do with a pond.
Some countries breed athletically superior people based on their genetics. Pollution, and lifestyle could have an effect too.
Larger countries have a much higher sample of people to choose from.
The Olympics where never fair, the technology being employed is increasing the problem but its not new.
☢ - tacojohn48, on 08/09/2008, -1/+4Some events you just don't want to see naked. Imagine weightlifting. Of course woman's beach volleyball would be awesome.
- Obsession88, on 08/09/2008, -0/+2Tournament paintball guns have been using micro-switches for triggers for a long time (~10 years). They use it for speed more then anything though. You still need to pull the trigger, and there still is a "click" where the trigger contacts the switch. So you still need to line up your shot and pull the trigger, it just makes it smoother.
- tacojohn48, on 08/09/2008, -0/+2If that includes nude wrestling count me in, errr I mean out. Count me out.
- dsmx, on 08/09/2008, -0/+1Shooting a air pistol accurately is bloody hard.
- DiscoJohn, on 08/10/2008, -0/+1"By etching graphic designs into key areas of the garment, they can increase airflow over the skin, while reducing the overall weight by 31 percent. Oh, and the graphics look pretty cool, too."
This is the biggest crock of crap I've ever heard. - archlich, on 08/09/2008, -1/+2"The rules dictate that the trigger must require a minimum force of 500 grams to fire, but smoothness is still critical."
A gram is not a measurement of force. - KJSatz, on 08/10/2008, -0/+1Who's stopping them...the rules committee? Yeah that's their job.
- KJSatz, on 08/10/2008, -0/+1I think rules organizations will draw the line somewhere before CO2-recycling nanobots in your lungs. And historically as doping advances, so does anti-doping technology.
But if not, and it's all available to everyone, it's still fair (issues of cost aside). If everyone has the same enhancements, then there again it comes down to the individuals. - jerryterhorst, on 08/09/2008, -1/+2It's all about perception--people hear that you broke a record. Doesn't matter how, really, with the exception of doping.
- tacojohn48, on 08/09/2008, -1/+2Don't forget the added wind resistance.
- tacojohn48, on 08/09/2008, -0/+1Lets all say it together: "bury, report, block"
- cupajoe60, on 08/09/2008, -1/+2So we should be using the technology the ancient greeks had?
- tacojohn48, on 08/09/2008, -1/+2That is the ideal of the suit. Flattening everything out should produce better hydrodynamics.
- fhernand, on 08/09/2008, -1/+2I'm still waiting for head-mounted cams to show the athletes point-of-view.. come on, that can't be that hard, can it?
- skinny01, on 08/09/2008, -1/+1Except for the extra weight added which will allow spectators to get the most accurate point of view of losing.
- Culyt, on 08/09/2008, -3/+3I wonder what will happen to the Olympics in the future when things like genetics can be applied. I doubt its really possible to test for genome changes since you could just be dealing with a very fit person.
Will we start testing for genetically modified bacteria that release key chemicals. What about drugs that break down into inconspicuous matter before the drug testing can take place. What about swimsuits that not only decrease resistance but actually accelerate you using static electricity and passive nanotech to make the water flow through the suit.
Also who will care about Olympic athletes when high school students are out performing them because of gene technology, or artificial blood made from nanobots that allows for your breath to be held for hours and improves performance above Olympic level, its already been designed although the technology to make it is still some time off, but not too much time, granted you could keep it out of the Olympics by testing for it but who will really care about the records of some athlete you can already go faster than without any training.
The only other option would be to allow it all, which turns the game into a science festival rather than a sport.
Motorsports will have similar problems with nanomaterial making insanely light cars and engines. Drivers reflexes can be tweaked.
Sports will be dead within several decades.
☢ - KJSatz, on 08/10/2008, -1/+1Using his logic?
What you can use at the Games has nothing to do with your home country (except your budget)--if you can use jet powered skis so could anyone else.
Even if everyone was competing nude with standardized javelins, air pistols, or other equipment, there are STILL inequities between "then" and now in terms of training technique, and there are always some inconsistencies. And standardizing jerseys, for example (if you don't want nudity) (I just watch women's beach volleyball umm), would not be a good idea, because some people prefer different kinds of equipment.
It's not like they have a laser scope on that pistol or GPS guidance on the javelin or bionic stroke enhancement in the swim suit. There ARE rules and boundaries. - demodawid, on 08/09/2008, -1/+1But a "gram-force" is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram-force - rubink, on 08/09/2008, -1/+1It seems many of these tools change every year and yet stay very similar.
- yevkasem, on 08/09/2008, -1/+1those asymmetric shoes are totally sweet.
- inactive, on 08/11/2008, -0/+0Looks like you didn't get the point JKAL. Culyt is saying that there was and always will be countries with a disadvantage. It's like how a larger more prestigious high school will have more students to choose from and better students to choose from. And about incredible achievements: anything at an olympic level is an incredible achievement. It doesn't matter if records are broken or not. Except for team USA's past basketball appearances.
- Ramble, on 08/09/2008, -2/+1You want insane sports tech then look at cycling. Some insanely expensive stuff just to save 40g worth of wheel rim weight. Of course 40g of weight in the rims might actually make a difference to acceleration.
- inactive, on 08/09/2008, -2/+1I completely agree and have pondered this for a while now. The only way to solve the problem would be the painstaking process of making sure that no one uses a "performance enhancer" or just allowing every thing which would, as you said, just turn sports into who has the most money for biological upgrades.
And any one who says we're crazy is completely wrong. The military is starting to experiment with many technologies now such as "nanomachines" and genetic enhancements. - matt247, on 08/09/2008, -2/+1Nike made shoes for all of the events of the Olympics. There are photos online if you want to see them all..
- andywu92, on 08/09/2008, -3/+1When will people stop breaking world records?
This can't go on forever.. - Cannon49, on 08/09/2008, -3/+1Its not that world records are being broken, its that they are being broken at an astounding rate.
- jonmac, on 08/09/2008, -4/+1No, article, I will not "hit the continue jump".
Buried. - havokdu, on 08/09/2008, -6/+2Both Speedo LZR Racer Swimsuit pics look photoshopped.
He's pack is gone and she has no boobs. - JKAL, on 08/09/2008, -5/+1@ Culyt:
your argument does not make sense, using your logic if my country does not have snow, I can then compete in the winter Olympics using jet powered skiis?
Using technology is cheating, and I say good for the countries who do it, as the Olympics is now all about sponsorship money not about incredible achievements by humans (even though there are a few here and there), anyway if you want to cheat using technology good for you do it and get those gold medals for your country, but don't lie to yourself and the rest of the world by saying it is not cheating. - Crisender111, on 08/09/2008, -8/+3MBM = Buried
MBM = Everything that is wrong with DIGG algorithm - haentz, on 08/09/2008, -9/+3While the technology is kind of cool, it's just another kind of doping...
- EdmontonEh, on 08/08/2008, -7/+1Who would have thought 'Air Pistol' is an Olympic sport...?
Super Interesting... Dugg - Jenadae, on 08/09/2008, -8/+1:D IGNORE ME!!!
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