Δευτέρα 4 Ιανουαρίου 2010
Predictions for the Next Decade -- January 4, 2010
Predictions for the Next Decade -- January 4, 2010
PHOENIX, Arizona, January 4. SWIMMING World CEO Brent Rutemiller looks at "Predictions for the Next Decade" in the latest Voice for the Sport. This article is found in the January issue of Swimming World Magazine, but is also re-printed below.
PHOENIX, Arizona, January 4. SWIMMING World CEO Brent Rutemiller looks at "Predictions for the Next Decade" in the latest Voice for the Sport. This article is found in the January issue of Swimming World Magazine, but is also re-printed below.
Just as the last 10 years brought unprecedented changes to the aquatic sports, the next 10 shouldn't be any different.
Here are my predictions for the next decade:
• A Professional Swim League will be established in the United States, Europe and Australia.
• Masters swimmers will be the first to embrace a professional circuit that allows for technical suits and no testing for performance-enhancing drugs.
• The banning of full body suits will be reversed, and material will be redefined once again for Olympic competition.
• Advertising will be allowed on swimwear during competition, similar to NASCAR.
• Indoor racing venues will experiment with extreme black lights and glow-in-the-dark lane lines.
• Glass-bottom competition pools will be constructed over shark tanks, giving the illusion of open water.
• Lane lines will be constructed with new materials, making them translucent.
• Open water racing will see the largest growth in popularity.
• A made-for-TV match race will feature two people racing to see who can travel from England to the French shoreline the fastest: one by driving to Heathrow airport in London, checking bags, going through airport security, flying to Paris, picking up luggage, renting a car and driving to the French shoreline; the other by swimming across the English Channel. My guess is that the swimmer wins.
• As a budget savings, the NCAA will combine all of its NCAA division championships into one week of collegiate championships at one venue.
• The courts will rule that Title IX discriminates against males. • Chinese women will dominate the next two Olympics.
• Swimming will become the No. 1 fitness activity in the United States based on a national health movement and national health care recommendations.
• Due to energy prices and economic conditions, pool rental prices will skyrocket in the United States, forcing many clubs to consolidate or shut down.
• Jessica Hardy will get her ban on the 2012 Olympics reversed, allowing her to compete in London.
• Water Polo in the United States will continue to grow in popularity, and competition for pool space with USA Swimming clubs will intensify.
• Current dope testing procedures and periodicals will be abolished, and a new blood passport system will be installed in Europe.
• High school swimming will grow in participation. However, new high school facilities will not be built.
• New scientific methods will be used to increase oxygen to an athlete's energy system, allowing for better training and recovery.
• Supplements taken by athletes to assist in nutrition and recovery will be regulated by governing bodies.
• Masters Swimmers will actively become part of groundbreaking quality of life and longevity studies that test scientific breakthroughs in genetic engineering.
• Use of infrared devices will become common during the elite training of athletes, allowing coaches to gauge muscle fatigue quickly based on heat expenditure. The same devices will allow coaches to change technique to recruit other muscles not being used based on mapping muscle heat exchange. My personal wish for the next decade is that by 2012, there will be no drownings in the United States due to someone not having the opportunity to learn how to swim.
Παρασκευή 11 Δεκεμβρίου 2009
FINA Says What? Nero tx Range APPROVED for 2010
Much celebration in the blueseventy US office today, as it is Steve’s B’day. The other reason is that at 7am this morning, we learned that FINA had finished fiddling around with our swimskins in their tower of power in Lausanne and given them the gigantic thumbs up mark.So as of January, when the new FINA regulations come in, you’ll be able to wear legal blueseventy racewear (the neroTX range).
Δευτέρα 30 Νοεμβρίου 2009
Welcome to neroTX the next step in competitive race swimwear from blueseventy
The same passion for design and innovation with the undeterred obsession for reducing passive drag, that turned the record breaking blueseventy nero into the top selling race suit in the world, has been the driving force behind the new neroTX.Blueseventy’s neroTX range incorporates the very latest in modern textile fabric technology. With advanced ultrasonic welding and extensively tested patterns offering the optimal blend of fit, compression and performance, you know you’ll soon be swimming faster with blueseventy.
Attention to detail has been placed at every level, starting with the selection of our unique highly compressive, ultra low drag, water smart fabric. blueseventy's exclusive fabric is produced using a warp multifilament treated nylon, with an extremely thin yarn count. The result is a super light weight, compressive, hydrophobic material that repels water even more effectively and therefore drastically decreases that all important drag coefficient. The entire neroTX range is ultrasonically welded, further eliminating the drag that’s created from traditionally sewn suits.
With the outstanding neroTX we continue to set the standard that others follow. Quite simply the world is once again swimming faster in blueseventy.
Technical features Compression:
The highly compressive nature of our TX Diaphanous fabric gives a figure hugging fit to the neroTX range. The end result is a suit that helps to streamline the body shape in the water and therefore make the swimmer go faster. Drag:
The ultrasonically welded seams in the neroTX range significantly reduce the drag found in conventionally sewn swimwear. The extremely lightweight nature of our TX fabric further enhances the seam welding leaving an almost undeterminable seam line. The water repellent nature of the suit further increases the ability of the swimmer to slip through the water and therefore reduces passive drag.Fit
Years of extensive research and hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone into making sure every neroTX suit provides the perfect fit to facilitate optimal, individual swimming technique. From the very nature of our unique TX fabric, down to the strategic alignment/ interplay of shoulder straps and scapular movement, to the pin point accuracy of seam lines, each neroTX has been designed to be a part of you the swimmer, maximising your potential, not working against it.
Τρίτη 17 Νοεμβρίου 2009
Shiny Suits: Best Training Aid Ever Invented?
Craig Lord (swimnews.com)
Nov 15, 2009
This afternoon's finals sessions at the World Cup will mark the last meet at which USA coach Bob Bowman, mentor to Michael Phelps, will see shiny suits in the race pool. How did he feel? "Thrilled," beamed the mastermind behind the most successful Olympian in history.
He will not attend the duel in the pool when the USA takes on a European select in England next month so Berlin would be his last brush with the bodysuits before the January 1 ban. "With that, it will be gone," he added, sweeping his hand before him. Not gone in one significant way.
Bowman would not be adjusting his training much at all to account for the loss of the shiny suits, given that his squad trained in traditional textile suits anyway, but, he told SwimNews with a glint in his eye: "I will be changing one thing: I will be using the (shiny) suits in training ... to give them the neuro-muscular feel for racing fast early in the season."
Bill Sweetenham, the Aussie guru in Berlin as part of his role advising Spain on its national programme , was on hand to say: "The suits are the best training aid ever invented. They aid recovery, they aid flotation, help you swim higher in the water at speed and at lower speeds. You can do more repeats at race speed, and beyond race speed (without the swimmer breaking down). You can't just do 30m at race speed but 50m and more. Far better than towing ropes and stretch chords. When kids are fatigued you can get the in a suit and aid their recovery."
As a coach he never wanted to see the suits back in the race pool. Beyond their usefulness as training aids, they might also serve well as teaching tools when it came to easing swimmers back to the suits that will wear in racing from New Year's Day. He said that he would "have three suits available: one full one, one with no full legs and one with no arms ... as tools to introduce swimmers back to the sport of swimming." Some coaches in the US, Australia and Britain were already working along those lines.
There might even be a rush on shiny sales as suit makers seek to clear some stock by marketing their forbidden race goods as training aids. But the price tag might have to fall and the durability of some of the soon-to-be banned apparel improved, the bills and rips of the past two years would suggest.
Bowman is among those who see use in the products that he is delighted to see dropped from the race regime. The shiny suits had taught the sport lessons, he said. "We've had tremendous advantaged from the LZR but it got to a point where work and feeling in water didn't matter anymore. That's not what the sport should be about."
He was looking forward to the race days of the future. "It'll be so much better. We won't have the stress of the time it takes to put them on, the worry of whether you've got the right one and 'what if it rips?'." Bowman had done a quality set with his squad recently in which part of the drill was to get the suit on. "Some of them took an hour to get it on. It was terrible. It disrupts everything you do. For swimmers it''l be a case of being more conscious of how your your body feels."
Bowman was please with the way that Phelps had conducted himself on world cup tour and described as "his best performance" as the 200m medley heats this morning, in which a 1:55.92 effort left the Olympic champion in lane four for the final for the first time in the two meets this week. Phelps was working hard and was learning valuable things. Such as the importance of expectation. What's missing off the wall (in 2010 textile suit), said Bowman, is thae extra flow and glide that makes the breakout into stroke all the longer and smoother. Swimmers would find, like Phelps had, that the point at which they had come to expect the glide phase off the wall to break into a stroke fell a fair bit sooner. That required adjustment to avoid there being a dead zone in propulsion.
Phelps will compete in two more meets this year: a local event in the US and then the Duel in manchester next month. The big targets for 2010 were the US summer nationals and trials, the Pan Pacific Championships and then, a year from now, the world short-course championships in Dubai.
Nov 15, 2009
This afternoon's finals sessions at the World Cup will mark the last meet at which USA coach Bob Bowman, mentor to Michael Phelps, will see shiny suits in the race pool. How did he feel? "Thrilled," beamed the mastermind behind the most successful Olympian in history.
He will not attend the duel in the pool when the USA takes on a European select in England next month so Berlin would be his last brush with the bodysuits before the January 1 ban. "With that, it will be gone," he added, sweeping his hand before him. Not gone in one significant way.
Bowman would not be adjusting his training much at all to account for the loss of the shiny suits, given that his squad trained in traditional textile suits anyway, but, he told SwimNews with a glint in his eye: "I will be changing one thing: I will be using the (shiny) suits in training ... to give them the neuro-muscular feel for racing fast early in the season."
Bill Sweetenham, the Aussie guru in Berlin as part of his role advising Spain on its national programme , was on hand to say: "The suits are the best training aid ever invented. They aid recovery, they aid flotation, help you swim higher in the water at speed and at lower speeds. You can do more repeats at race speed, and beyond race speed (without the swimmer breaking down). You can't just do 30m at race speed but 50m and more. Far better than towing ropes and stretch chords. When kids are fatigued you can get the in a suit and aid their recovery."
As a coach he never wanted to see the suits back in the race pool. Beyond their usefulness as training aids, they might also serve well as teaching tools when it came to easing swimmers back to the suits that will wear in racing from New Year's Day. He said that he would "have three suits available: one full one, one with no full legs and one with no arms ... as tools to introduce swimmers back to the sport of swimming." Some coaches in the US, Australia and Britain were already working along those lines.
There might even be a rush on shiny sales as suit makers seek to clear some stock by marketing their forbidden race goods as training aids. But the price tag might have to fall and the durability of some of the soon-to-be banned apparel improved, the bills and rips of the past two years would suggest.
Bowman is among those who see use in the products that he is delighted to see dropped from the race regime. The shiny suits had taught the sport lessons, he said. "We've had tremendous advantaged from the LZR but it got to a point where work and feeling in water didn't matter anymore. That's not what the sport should be about."
He was looking forward to the race days of the future. "It'll be so much better. We won't have the stress of the time it takes to put them on, the worry of whether you've got the right one and 'what if it rips?'." Bowman had done a quality set with his squad recently in which part of the drill was to get the suit on. "Some of them took an hour to get it on. It was terrible. It disrupts everything you do. For swimmers it''l be a case of being more conscious of how your your body feels."
Bowman was please with the way that Phelps had conducted himself on world cup tour and described as "his best performance" as the 200m medley heats this morning, in which a 1:55.92 effort left the Olympic champion in lane four for the final for the first time in the two meets this week. Phelps was working hard and was learning valuable things. Such as the importance of expectation. What's missing off the wall (in 2010 textile suit), said Bowman, is thae extra flow and glide that makes the breakout into stroke all the longer and smoother. Swimmers would find, like Phelps had, that the point at which they had come to expect the glide phase off the wall to break into a stroke fell a fair bit sooner. That required adjustment to avoid there being a dead zone in propulsion.
Phelps will compete in two more meets this year: a local event in the US and then the Duel in manchester next month. The big targets for 2010 were the US summer nationals and trials, the Pan Pacific Championships and then, a year from now, the world short-course championships in Dubai.
Πέμπτη 10 Σεπτεμβρίου 2009
Industry News: Speedo Extends Partnership With Michael Phelps Through 2013 -- September 9, 2009
LOS ANGELES, California, September 9.
SPEEDO today announced the extension of its long-time partnership with swimming superstar Michael Phelps through 2013. Following his historic 8 Olympic Gold Medal haul in Beijing, Phelps' career-spanning commitment to the Speedo brand and a shared passion to help grow the sport of swimming globally now continues through the 2012 London Olympic Games and beyond. A Team Speedo star since 2001, Phelps' relationship with Speedo goes beyond a traditional endorsement contract. Phelps used the $1 million bonus he earned from Speedo for his record medal haul in Beijing to start the Michael Phelps Foundation, a charitable organization committed to growing the sport of swimming. As part of Phelps' new Speedo deal, the brand will donate $10,000 to the Michael Phelps Foundation for every World Record Phelps sets; Phelps has committed to match each donation as well. "Speedo's support both in and out of the pool has helped me grow into the swimmer I am today," said Phelps. "I am grateful for the brand's commitment to help realize our shared vision to grow the sport of swimming both in the U.S. and around the world."
"Michael has transformed the sport of swimming, with more fan interest and participation than ever before," said Joe Gromek, CEO and Chairman, Warnaco, Inc, North American licensee for the Speedo brand. "Warnaco and Speedo are committed to building on the momentum with direct support for the Michael Phelps Foundation."
David Robinson, President of Speedo International, added: "Michael continues to inspire the entire world of swimming and is a fabulous ambassador for the Speedo brand across the 175 countries that we operate within."
Phelps will also continue to serve as part of an athlete advisory group to the Speedo Aqualab, the research and development center that continually pioneers new technologies and innovations in swimwear and accessories. In 2008, it introduced the Speedo LZR Racer, which Phelps wore for every gold-medal-winning swim in Beijing and at the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome. In the coming months, Speedo will announce an updated – and comprehensive – range of elite swimwear that conforms to newly released FINA rules.
"I am proud to be part of the Speedo Aqualab team," Phelps added. "Speedo and its Aqualab team are leaders in innovation. I have worn Speedo throughout my career and look forward to racing in new technology in 2010 and at the 2012 London Olympics."
"As the world's greatest Olympian, Michael continually challenges Speedo to drive innovation throughout our product range," said Helen McCluskey, President, Warnaco Swimwear Group. "We are committed to helping swimmers achieve their personal best."
Phelps made history by winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games – the most for any athlete at a single Games. During the nine-day competition in Beijing, Phelps set seven World Records, eight American Records and eight Olympic Records to become the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 14 gold medals. As he looks ahead to the 2012 London Olympics, Phelps continues his assault on the history books. At the 13th FINA World Championships in Rome this summer, Phelps accomplished another personal and historic goal, setting a new World Record of 49.82 in the 100m butterfly to become the first man to break the 50-second barrier.
The Baltimore native continues to train at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club under long-time Speedo coach Bob Bowman. Phelps is represented by Peter Carlisle, Managing Director of Olympics & Action Sports, Octagon.
Team Speedo swimmers include Olympic Medalists Natalie Coughlin (USA), Ryan Lochte (USA), Katie Hoff (USA), Libby Trickett (AUS), Eamon Sullivan (AUS), Park Tae Hwan (KOR) and Rebecca Adlington (GBR).
SPEEDO® is a registered trademark of and used under license from Speedo International Ltd. Warnaco Swimwear, Inc., a division of The Warnaco Group, Inc. (NYSE: WRC), is the authorized licensee of the SPEEDO® trademark in North American and the Caribbean.
Τρίτη 4 Αυγούστου 2009
Techno swimsuit outrage just doesn't hold water
Aug. 4, 2009
By Gregg Doyel CBSSports.com National Columnist Tell Gregg your opinion!
The polyurethane swimsuits that have helped swimmers break more than 170 world records since 2008, including 43 last week at the World Championships in Rome, are about to go the way of the dodo bird -- had the dodo bird died off because it was too fit to survive.
This is evolution in reverse, this uprising against the polyurethane swimsuit, and someone's going to have to explain it to me -- because I don't understand. I don't understand why a swimsuit that is made by multiple companies, and is available, ostensibly, to every world-class swimmer, should be ruled illegal.
So someone help me. And by "help me," I mean read me first. Read me with an open mind, and after you've considered my argument, tell me yours. Tell me what I'm missing.
Because I don't understand this. At all.
Swimming isn't baseball, where advancements in aluminum bats have led Nike to charge $400 for a single bat, the Aero Fuse CX2, with 42 layers of carbon composite fibers that crisscross into "two independent walls engineered to allow greater compression, store more energy from the collision and release explosive power at launch." This is a bat that could kill somebody. If a college hitter smashes a ball up the middle with one of these juiced-up bats, pray it misses the pitcher's skull.
A swimsuit isn't going to kill anybody.
Swimming isn't golf, a sport whose club shafts were once made from hickory but now are made from titanium, a material so strong that Boeing uses it to hold together its biggest jets. A high-end Titleist titanium driver goes for $450, and the pros who have mastered such clubs have made all but the biggest golf courses obsolete. Courses that were good enough for Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, courses like Augusta National, have had to move tees 50 or 60 yards back to accommodate players named Bubba Watson and Tag Ridings.
A swimsuit isn't going to make a pool obsolete.
All these swimsuits do is help the swimmers go faster. Isn't that what we want? To watch swimmers go faster? If the day comes when a shoe company revolutionizes what we thought we knew about a track spike, is that shoe going to be outlawed because the runners are running too fast?
Of course not.
What I see here are socialism and the status quo, two applications that are useful in some places but have no business being in athletics.
Socialism is at work because FINA, the swimming governing body, has bowed to the sponsors who control swimming. Not contribute to swimming. Control it. Some of the equipment companies that make the biggest contributions to swimmers in particular and the sport at large, like Speedo, have had their trunks pulled down by lesser-known companies like Arena and Jaked. The irony is beautiful in that Speedo started this revolution, introducing the LZR that dominated at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but now Speedo has been passed like its swimmers are wearing concrete flippers. And Speedo doesn't like it. Breaks my heart.
But if Speedo doesn't like it, and Nike also doesn't like it ... well then, FINA doesn't like it. Because swimmers bound to Speedo or Nike were caught in Rome using the Jaked 01 or the Arena X-Glide, trying unsuccessfully to fool people by marking out the competing brand names with magic marker.
That's bad for business for Speedo and Nike, and if it's bad for Speedo and Nike, it's bad for FINA. So this entire style of swimsuit will be illegal by 2010 -- because the scientists at Speedo and Nike can't keep up.
The status quo also is being protected. Before Arena and Jaked got good at this, Speedo swimmers dominated the pool. And by Speedo swimmers, I mean Michael Phelps. You saw what he did in Beijing. When he wasn't hitting the bong, he was hitting the wall ahead of everyone else. And that's the way FINA liked it. FINA liked knowing who was good, and who wasn't, and there was comfort in that.
But with these new suits, suddenly Michael Phelps -- and the U.S. swim team, come to think of it -- weren't as good as everyone thought. And if Phelps and the United States aren't dominant, well, FINA can't have that. The U.S. swim teams won a combined 22 medals in Rome, good for most countries but not good for the United States, which hadn't won so few medals since 1994.
U.S. Swimming national team director Mark Schubert dismissed the World Championships with a sneer, saying, "This will be remembered as the plastic meet." He took solace in the socialist ban of polyurethane and the return of the status quo: "I just think it's going to level the playing field a lot more. We're going to be able to tell who the real swimmers are."
You can almost see Schubert's lower lip quiver. The United States might not have swum as well as usual in Rome, but we pouted our asses off. Bob Bowman, Phelps' coach, threatened to withdraw his swimmer from future international events if the swimsuit controversy wasn't addressed, which is hilarious given -- again -- that Phelps' revolutionary (at the time) LZR swimsuit in Beijing helped him win eight medals and set seven world records.
Phelps also pouted: "It's going to be fun next year," he said, "when swimming is back to swimming."
Of course the American media is lapping it up. Phelps is still exceptional, but he was beaten last week in one of his signature events, the 200 freestyle, by a German swimmer in an Arena X-Glide. So if you read much about swimsuits, and what you read has been written by an American journalist, all you know is the dark side. This is an abomination!
Please. This is competition. If a swimmer's sponsor can't keep up, switch sponsors. This isn't a swim team at the YMCA asking parents to cough up $800 for one of the fast suits. This is world-class competition. These swimmers can afford it, and if they can't, tough.
It's made of polyurethane -- not an outboard motor. This swimsuit isn't illegal. Steroids are illegal. Coating your body with water-resistant goo is illegal. A swimsuit? Illegal?
Makes no sense to me.
Does it make sense to you?
By Gregg Doyel CBSSports.com National Columnist Tell Gregg your opinion!
The polyurethane swimsuits that have helped swimmers break more than 170 world records since 2008, including 43 last week at the World Championships in Rome, are about to go the way of the dodo bird -- had the dodo bird died off because it was too fit to survive.
This is evolution in reverse, this uprising against the polyurethane swimsuit, and someone's going to have to explain it to me -- because I don't understand. I don't understand why a swimsuit that is made by multiple companies, and is available, ostensibly, to every world-class swimmer, should be ruled illegal.
So someone help me. And by "help me," I mean read me first. Read me with an open mind, and after you've considered my argument, tell me yours. Tell me what I'm missing.
Because I don't understand this. At all.
Swimming isn't baseball, where advancements in aluminum bats have led Nike to charge $400 for a single bat, the Aero Fuse CX2, with 42 layers of carbon composite fibers that crisscross into "two independent walls engineered to allow greater compression, store more energy from the collision and release explosive power at launch." This is a bat that could kill somebody. If a college hitter smashes a ball up the middle with one of these juiced-up bats, pray it misses the pitcher's skull.
A swimsuit isn't going to kill anybody.
Swimming isn't golf, a sport whose club shafts were once made from hickory but now are made from titanium, a material so strong that Boeing uses it to hold together its biggest jets. A high-end Titleist titanium driver goes for $450, and the pros who have mastered such clubs have made all but the biggest golf courses obsolete. Courses that were good enough for Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, courses like Augusta National, have had to move tees 50 or 60 yards back to accommodate players named Bubba Watson and Tag Ridings.
A swimsuit isn't going to make a pool obsolete.
All these swimsuits do is help the swimmers go faster. Isn't that what we want? To watch swimmers go faster? If the day comes when a shoe company revolutionizes what we thought we knew about a track spike, is that shoe going to be outlawed because the runners are running too fast?
Of course not.
What I see here are socialism and the status quo, two applications that are useful in some places but have no business being in athletics.
Socialism is at work because FINA, the swimming governing body, has bowed to the sponsors who control swimming. Not contribute to swimming. Control it. Some of the equipment companies that make the biggest contributions to swimmers in particular and the sport at large, like Speedo, have had their trunks pulled down by lesser-known companies like Arena and Jaked. The irony is beautiful in that Speedo started this revolution, introducing the LZR that dominated at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, but now Speedo has been passed like its swimmers are wearing concrete flippers. And Speedo doesn't like it. Breaks my heart.
But if Speedo doesn't like it, and Nike also doesn't like it ... well then, FINA doesn't like it. Because swimmers bound to Speedo or Nike were caught in Rome using the Jaked 01 or the Arena X-Glide, trying unsuccessfully to fool people by marking out the competing brand names with magic marker.
That's bad for business for Speedo and Nike, and if it's bad for Speedo and Nike, it's bad for FINA. So this entire style of swimsuit will be illegal by 2010 -- because the scientists at Speedo and Nike can't keep up.
The status quo also is being protected. Before Arena and Jaked got good at this, Speedo swimmers dominated the pool. And by Speedo swimmers, I mean Michael Phelps. You saw what he did in Beijing. When he wasn't hitting the bong, he was hitting the wall ahead of everyone else. And that's the way FINA liked it. FINA liked knowing who was good, and who wasn't, and there was comfort in that.
But with these new suits, suddenly Michael Phelps -- and the U.S. swim team, come to think of it -- weren't as good as everyone thought. And if Phelps and the United States aren't dominant, well, FINA can't have that. The U.S. swim teams won a combined 22 medals in Rome, good for most countries but not good for the United States, which hadn't won so few medals since 1994.
U.S. Swimming national team director Mark Schubert dismissed the World Championships with a sneer, saying, "This will be remembered as the plastic meet." He took solace in the socialist ban of polyurethane and the return of the status quo: "I just think it's going to level the playing field a lot more. We're going to be able to tell who the real swimmers are."
You can almost see Schubert's lower lip quiver. The United States might not have swum as well as usual in Rome, but we pouted our asses off. Bob Bowman, Phelps' coach, threatened to withdraw his swimmer from future international events if the swimsuit controversy wasn't addressed, which is hilarious given -- again -- that Phelps' revolutionary (at the time) LZR swimsuit in Beijing helped him win eight medals and set seven world records.
Phelps also pouted: "It's going to be fun next year," he said, "when swimming is back to swimming."
Of course the American media is lapping it up. Phelps is still exceptional, but he was beaten last week in one of his signature events, the 200 freestyle, by a German swimmer in an Arena X-Glide. So if you read much about swimsuits, and what you read has been written by an American journalist, all you know is the dark side. This is an abomination!
Please. This is competition. If a swimmer's sponsor can't keep up, switch sponsors. This isn't a swim team at the YMCA asking parents to cough up $800 for one of the fast suits. This is world-class competition. These swimmers can afford it, and if they can't, tough.
It's made of polyurethane -- not an outboard motor. This swimsuit isn't illegal. Steroids are illegal. Coating your body with water-resistant goo is illegal. A swimsuit? Illegal?
Makes no sense to me.
Does it make sense to you?
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