EDITORIAL: Suit Up!

by Lauryn Nilson
Do you believe in miraclesYES! Al Michaels, 1980 Miracle On Ice. Every four
years, the best of the best athletes from countries around the world participate in the Olympic
Games. Many athletes train and prepare their whole lives for one Olympic moment, but what if
the success of your moment depended on what you wore? Swimming and speed skating are just
two examples of sports measured by the smallest of margins, and in recent years, controversy
over suits has even been taken to the courtroom in many different sport contexts. I believe that
athletes uniforms do affect their outcome.
It all started at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
when Speedo released the LZR Racer high-tech swimming
suit; a suit designed for maximum speed in the pool. 130
swimming world records were broken in a matter of 17
months, which is an accomplishment unparalleled by other
suit brands such as TYR, Arena, Jaked, and BlueSeventy.
The LZR Racer was created by Speedo in the United States
with the help of NASA rocket scientists. They measured
over 400 people and found the optimal design and fit for
swimmers all over the world. The LZR Racer included a
bonded seam for less drag, along with a hidden zipper in the
back (FINA banned those too.) However, the Speedo LZR
Racer became too high-tech for the rest of the world to keep
up. In 2009, FINA (the international swimming
government) banned all high-tech suits because it was
believed to give swimmers an unfair advantage. While the
ban created a mixed reaction, most people were supportive
of the ban. I support the ban because it gives certain athletes
an advantage. This is just one example of how technology
became too advanced for modern-day sports.
Recently at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games,
a similar scandal occurred, but this time it was in the sport
of speed skating. Team USA was a massive
disappointment at the Sochi Games with no skater placing
better than 7
th
in any event. If theyre USAs best, then
how did the 2006 and 2010 gold medalist Shani Davis not
even finish in the top five? Many look to their apparel. Mach 39 was created by Under Armor
and soon was dubbed as the fastest speedskating suit in the world, but it was never worn in
competition until the Olympic Games. To the athletes, this should have set off a major red flag.
In Under Armors defense, they say that they didnt want other countries swiping their
technology, so they kept the technology under lock and key until the Olympic finals. While
many blame these suits for their failures in Sochi, it ultimately comes down to fact that in a
sport measured by the smallest margins of time, drag can make the difference between first and
second.
New FINA regulations say that suits must
be not go below the knees and past the
shoulders on women- men are now
required to suits known as jammers
which are from the waist to the knees.
PHOTO: Speedo Fastskin LZR Racer
Elite Recordbreaker Kneeskin (Picture
taken by Lauryn Nilson).


In conclusion, even though the Sochi Games are long
over, this controversy will continue to be important for many
years to come. I believe that the suits did have an effect on
the speed skaters in Sochi, but Under Armor is not totally the
blame- the combination of new training suits, a new practice
location, and personal factors all contributed to the fact that
the US did not win any medals in speed skating. Both
swimming and speed skating are sports measured to the
hundredth of a second, so what you wear can have a
tremendous effect on your performance. At the 2012 London
Summer Olympic Games, world records were broken by
athletes from all over the world, proving that swimmers dont
need special suits to swim fast. While many records might
stay on the books for a long, long time, young, new talent
will come eventually and bring the records down.
Sources: www.usatoday.com, www.online.wsj.com,
www.odwyerpr.com, www.latimes.com, www.forbes.com,
www.sports.yahoo.com, www.scientificamerican.com,
www.nasa.gov, www.nytimes.com,
www.sports.espn.go.com, www.reachforthewall.com,
www.npr.org, www.jsonline.com, www.swimming.about.com, www.gigmag.com
98% of gold medal winners at the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games won
wearing a Speedo LZR Racer.
Picture source:
www.speedoendurance.com