What is Digg?42 Comments
- twiztidsinz, on 02/22/2009, -1/+37Simple solution: Make them swim nude.
- ModernChem, on 02/22/2009, -0/+28I got excited when I saw "swimsuit issue"
- Twag86, on 02/22/2009, -0/+17Just make all the swimmers wear the same thing.This. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7Vu0WdrWjXY/RfwbzE7NZwI/ ...
- SIRBERUS, on 02/22/2009, -0/+7Thus the reason we need Nude Olympics.
- Fozefy, on 02/22/2009, -0/+7Or why not just make them swim with just the basic speedo, get rid of the full body suit and its fixed! For the guys anyways, I guess you'd have to figure something else out for the women....though I suppose it would increase viewer rates!
- LuckyASN, on 02/22/2009, -0/+6Phelp fap?
- jbob2000, on 02/22/2009, -3/+8*sigh*
Stifling technological advances is a bad thing. This will push other companies to produce better products, or they will go under because they produce an inferior product. It's called economics, It's not unfair, if you dedicate your entire life (or a significant portion) to swimming, why wouldn't you want the best equipment? - Spoomeister, on 02/22/2009, -0/+52 predictions:
1. 100 meter women's backstroke would be the most watched Olympic event.
2. Men's swimming would be unintentionally hilarious, as the swimmers' danglin' junk acts as rudders and makes everyone swim slightly to the left. - offrdbandit, on 02/22/2009, -0/+5I was very confused for a good 30 seconds or so. At first I thought maybe NoScript was blocking a slideshow or something. It was heartbreaking to learn the truth.
- dstz, on 02/22/2009, -0/+4What about running shoes, bows, tennis rackets, skis, etc, etc...
it's difficult to think of a sport where new materials have not undoubtedly increased performances, so I'm wondering why this is such an issue with swimming... because progress has been slow to catch up in swimsuits compared to other sports, and because fewer businesses got it right than in other sports?
what about us consumers who benefit from those progresses down the line? - mike23w, on 02/22/2009, -0/+4That handlebar mustache should be required too.
- inactive, on 02/22/2009, -0/+4Or why wouldn't you want the best steroids, if you want to argue it that way.
- jtrenton, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3geeks got excited when they saw "hi-tech swimsuit issue."
- Gustomucho, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3Would not be fair for everyone... dragging effect would be a big hinderance. I would be up for 1 supplier for every swimmer though.
Next year we will talk about YXZ, this is only the begining. - fedak, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3This has *nothing* to do with stifling innovation or economic product competition- its about maintaining (or recovering) the integrity of the sport.
Swimming already bans artificial devices that aid propulsion, limiting artificial devices that reduce water resistance is just the other side of the equation. - froggertv, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3I have also never thought so seriously about swim suits...................
- GothAlice, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3... everyone would full-body-shave. Skin drag varies very slightly from person to person, especially if everyone involved spends a lot of time in the water.
- evodevo1, on 02/23/2009, -0/+3yeah phuck phelps
- jbob2000, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3It's just not as exciting then, and they end up wasting time and money promoting something nobody is watching.
Like woman's basketball. *ducks* - linga99, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3Letting technology run rampant is the wrong way to go? Otherwise where will it stop? Swimwear by Evinrude (they make outboard motors in case you dont know). It is not a formula one race where technology is at the fore, the swimmers ability and fitness should be the primary reason for someone winning a race. Not because they can afford the technology.
- terracottapai, on 02/22/2009, -0/+3Well one of the main problems I recall from right off the bat is that a number of countries/organizations are bound to use suits made by specific companies. So pretty much anyone with a deal with anyone but Speedo is at an immediate disadvantage. Now if EVERYBODY had access to them, it would be a different story.
Beyond that, there seem to be other problems with creating an unfair advantage, but I see that as taking a backseat to the question of access. - jbob2000, on 02/22/2009, -1/+4Ok so the teams who didn't choose speedo as their sponsor have a bad season. Next season, hope that your sponsor pulls their ***** together and makes a decent product. Or get better so you can get sponsored by Speedo. It always works like this in sports. Snowboarders and skiiers face problems like this with their sponsors, especially in the last two decades where technological advances in their equipment really started to leap forward. What happened is that other companies began to advance their products to compete, and the field levels itself again. It's called competition. Do you guys not think that other suit companies are now doing reserach to make a product to compete with speedo?
Drugs are bad mmkay? They're illegal. What happens when one team has the best training facility, or the best coaches, or the best diet? Competition is about winning and being the best, if everyone were on the exact same level, theoretically, nobody would win races, everyone would tie for first. The feild is never level, that's why there are winner and losers.
I don't really have any answers and I see lots of holes in my arugments, but I think it's silly to try to make everything fair when the things were never truly fair to begin with. - kelyar, on 02/24/2009, -0/+2I guess, fina just doesn't want to lose money from all companies like speedo that do these suits.
- jordantneff, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2Wow, I never knew people could be so serious about swimsuits... well, not in that sense anyway.
- dstz, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2fedak > makes sense, though i'm not convinced that the problem is worth the proposed solution.
- deviouskoopa, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2For some reason I'm not allowed to wear my Speedo in public anymore. Not fair!
- terracottapai, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2Uh, yeah.. I don't think the L.A. Times is going down..
- tendonut, on 02/22/2009, -1/+3So it would become a sport white people could actually be genetically superior at?
- fedak, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2Water drag is a *substantial* contributor to a swimmers performance. Having an advanced suit can be a significant differentiator- especially at the levels of competition where tenths or hundredths of a second separate the competition. Swimming with the core of your body immune to water resistance is hardly the original spirit of the sport, any more than wearing diving fins would be.
The new swim suits are largely a product of modern materials science. They are quite expensive.
At the age group and high school levels especially this creates a class difference of those that can and cannot afford the latest suits. And once everyone has the suits, the benefits are negated and everyone is back to being differentiated by athletic ability.
And finally, with the exception of running, for the sports you mention the equipment is an integral part of the sport itself. So I'm inclined to include the equipment arms race as part of the sport (up to the point where a technological development drastically changes the dynamics of the sport) - Shazbuckle, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2My coach won't let us buy LZR suits, simply because they can give an amateur swimmer the mindset that they don't need to work as hard because they have these super suits.
The only people in my club who use them are sponsored with them and they only wear it once per year. - zemkacz, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2No pictures? :(
- fedak, on 02/22/2009, -2/+4About time. Lets have swimming go back to being an athletic competition rather than a technological arms race.
- Spoomeister, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2They could split the difference by continuing to allow the Olympics to sponsor and use the very best modern equipment, while promoting another competition in parallel that is more traditional (i.e. no special clothing or equipment, no drugs, wrestle nude during the greco-roman wrestling portion, etc.).
- ZippyV, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2Some swimmers wear 3 of those LZR suits at the same time. To me, that is clearly cheating.
- Cerebron, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2The next step is a swimsuit with bits of webbing to act as fins.
- default02, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2Dammit! I was hoping to see Veronica Belmont in a bikini.
- hakluytbean, on 02/22/2009, -0/+2If the suits are to aid swimming, which they are, they apparently break Fina's own rules: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/7900 ...
- ultrafez, on 04/18/2009, -0/+1And you're obviously no older than 12.
- Propellen, on 02/22/2009, -0/+1Who would've thought that wearing a swimsuit could be so a) complicated and b) rewarding? It's a pity if these rules smother further innovation on swimsuits though, I presume the R&D done by commercial swimsuit manufacturers eventually might prove useful for other branches of science. I do think it's quite cute to spend this much energy on swimsuits anyhow!
- rIcHrDx, on 02/22/2009, -0/+1A mankini would be a more amusing alternative.
- Jehutes, on 02/22/2009, -3/+3Cool.
- lingum, on 02/22/2009, -2/+1You know this is a fascinating subject and I just wanted to know zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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