London 2012 – Meet the Speedo LZR Racer

By: Kuljit Grewal  |   July 24th, 2012   |   Sports

In anticipation of the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, TQ will be bringing you a look at how technology is influencing sport at its highest level.

 

As a former competitive swimmer I know that the straighter you are and the better your technique is the faster you can cut through the water. This seems to have a limiting effect on swimmers, particularly when fractions of a second are what separate champions from the rest. As the years have gone by, the technology in swim suits have totally changed the sport as a whole.

 

Originally swim suits were not designed to help swimmers increase their speed and reduce their times. In fact, it would act against the swimmers as they moved through the water, especially for women who would cover much of their bodies with cumbersome material.

 

As the twentieth century rolled on, swim suits went from wool to rubberized cotton to Spandex and other stretch materials. These suits also became slimmer and fit tighter around a swimmer’s body, as studies began to show that compressing the body would allow the swimmers to cut through the water even faster, which would reduce their times. This had to do with reducing the surface area that is subject to drag in the water. Also, since water creates greater resistance compared to air swimmers who could maintain their bodies higher in water would have an increased advantage.

 

This lead to Speedo creating a swim suit that was almost like a flotation device.

 

The LZR Racer, created by Speedo, made a huge impact during the 2008 Olympics. So much so, that the iconic swimwear brand was quickly surrounded by controversy. The suit took approximately three years to perfect and involved a wind tunnel from NASA, 100 professional swimmers, biochemical engineers, sports scientists and many other people to perfect.

 

The suit contains high-density microfiber and polyurethane panels which allow the swimmer to cut through the water like never before and compressed the abdominal area and fit the body so tightly that it takes about 15 minutes for the swimmer to put it on.

 

The results of the swim suits were so staggering during the 2008 Olympics that it was seen as giving swimmers an unfair advantage over others, with the results speaking for themselves. Michael Phelps wore the suit for all eight of his races and this lead to his record 8 gold medals and 94% of the gold winning swimmers during Beijing Olympics wore the suit. To add to the already impressive results the swimsuit allowed swimmers to break 74 world records between its release in March 2008 and November 2008 and another 43 world records were broken in the 2009 Swimming World Championships.

 

The swimsuits were seen as giving swimmers such unfair advantage that FINA banned the full body suit in 2009. With the LZR Racer creating so much controversy the main swimsuit that will be worn in the 2012 Olympics will be Speedo’s Fastskin3. The Fastskin3 is the combination of swimsuit, goggles, and a swimming cap that re-distributes water around a swimmer to aid in aerodynamics.