Sportswear 1

Sp ort swe ar : Spo rtsw ea r Te ch no lo gy Bre ak s the Limits of

Hum an s

In troduction

The Olympics and the World Cup, famous world festivals, are not only an

arena of competition between athletes, they are also an arena of competition

between types of sportswear that utilize a lot of high-technology. Since 1990,

a tendency to use high-technology sportswear that helps to make new

records has been stronger than before. Especially, competition between hi-

tech swimsuits, swift suits and soccer wear has been more competitive.

Nowadays, many people recognize that sportswear technology has greatly

helped to break the physical limits of humans in sports.

This paper will investigate the new materials that have been developed for

sportwear. First, it will explain the composition of the new materials used in

these new outfits and it will show in what ways the new materials help

athletes to perform better. Finally, the paper will argue that these new

sportwear are good for sports, not bad. They help athletes achieve new

records by changing the environments they perform in, not by changing their

bodies like steroids. Drugs in sports hurts athletes, but new sportwear

technology is not hurting athletes’ bodies, but instead helping improving

sports records.
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New Material and Effects

Discovery of a new material was a big influence on sportswear to improve

athletic performance. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Nike showed a special

running suit which was called a “swift suit”. It was a full body suit that looked

like a full body swimsuit. It focused on muscle temperature and aerodynamics

by using five new special materials. Surprisingly, athletes who wear the swift

suits have made as many as 23 Olympic medals and 9 new records since the

Sydney Olympics (Ko, 2004). Nike Inc. set out four years ago to see whether

streamlined clothing would help sprinters, who already achieve speeds of up

to 27 miles per hour, shave hundredths of a second off their times (Rudavsky,

2004). Aerodynamics dictates that the thighs, arms, and torso oval-shapes

that face into the wind create drag and slow down runners (Rudavsky, 2004).

Sprinters' outfits did little to compensate. Nike and its consultants adopted a

scientific approach, testing more than 60 fabrics in a wind tunnel, where they

could control air speed and measure pressure. "If you can lower the

aerodynamic drag, they can go faster. This doesn't require any training, it

doesn't require any change in technique," said Chester Kyle, a retired

engineering professor and Nike consultant (Rudavsky, 2004). "You can

decrease the drag by maybe 8 percent and that's enough to win sprinting

races," Rick Macdonald, Nike’s apparel innovation director, said. He

continued, "We maximize the efficiency of each body part, in the end, it's

really about helping each athlete find out how fast they can go” (Rudavsky,
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2004). Also, a material which was called “Clima Cool” was discovered by a

British doctor. It focused on temperature, so it could keep cool status and

send a cool feeling to the brain (Ko, 2004). Adidas made a sportswear which

was called “Clima Cool Apparel” by using Clima Cool. It was used to make a

special running suit for an athlete who had new records and it helped to get a

Figure 2. good result in the Athens Olympics (Ko, 2004). Recently, some companies

have tried to copy animals and things which are faster than humans. Mike

Phelps, one of the famous swimmers, had gotten as much as 6 gold medals

during the Athens Olympics. Many people said that one of the reasons to be

able to get 6 gold medals was his swimsuit which was called “Fastskin” made

by Speedo. It looked just a full body swimsuit, but its material and touch were

totally different because it copied shark’s skin by using a special material

even skin protuberance (Ko, 2004); see Figure 2. Speedo’s aerospace

engineer Barry Bixler’s computational fluid-dynamics analysis revealed the

path and velocity of the water as it flowed along a swimmer's body

(Rudavsky, 2004). Just as with the Swift Suits, real-life tests confirmed some

fabrics perform better at certain velocities, indicating which fabrics worked

best on which body parts (Rudavsky, 2004). Each suit also features a

turbulence-management system that consists of tiny bumps on the chest and

back. These rubber pinheads encourage the water to linger on the body,

another trick to help reduce drag. "It's like you're driving your car around a

corner," said Bixler, whose day job is at Honeywell Engines and Systems in
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Arizona (Rudavsky, 2004). "If the body curves too much when it's going too

fast, the water will leave the body and that increases the drag and you have

this suction force (Rudavsky, 2004).” Also, Ian Thorpe, a gold medallist in the

Athens Olympic, had worn a special full body suit which was called

“Jetconcept” made by Adidas. It focused on aerodynamics, so they made a v

shape panel from the armpit to the waist same as an airplane. When he wears

Jetconcept, he feels like he wears a hi-tech suit (Ko, 2004).

On the other hands, some people have different opinions, too. Canadian

swim great Alex Baumann, now an official in Australia, believes the suits

make a "very small difference." "They make you feel more streamlined and

buoyant," said the double Olympic gold medallist. Also, he said that “[I] think

that most of it is psychological. The full suit, according to some athletes,

actually restricts some movement” (Starkman, 2004). "Part of it's a fashion

thing," said Mintenko, who was fifth in the 100-metre butterfly at the Sydney

Olympics (Starkman, 2004). About these opinion, Andy Thomas, vice-

president of sales for Speedo Canada, concedes that “there is no way to

prove just how much faster the swimsuits can make the athletes or that their

product is faster than Tyr's suits” (Starkman, 2004). He points out that “28

of 33 gold-medal winners in Sydney wore Speedo, but acknowledges he can't

single out one who was victorious because of his or her swimsuit” (Starkman,

2004).
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Reducing weight is one of the important points to improve performance.

During the 2002 World Cup, Korea team had worn a new uniform which was

made by a new material. It was just 155g ,that was reduced 30g more than

before (Ko, 2004). Korea team players said that this uniform was really light

and have a good protection from heat, so it was really helpful to achieve

marvelous 4th place in 2002 World Cup. Sang-Chul Yoo, the captain of Korea

team, said that “it’s not just apparel, it’s equipment. It must maximize an

athlete’s velocity (Ko, 2004).” Also, Ireland’s team had a lot of advantages in

Korea and Japan World Cup because of weight and their protection. They

have a tendency that they are strong if they play in a same climate in Ireland.

So, they made a special uniform for players that was light and had high

protection. Because of this uniform, they were able to keep up their pace and

got a good result in countries which have totally different climates (Grogan,

2004).

New S portswear is Not a Drug

There are many problems today in sports because of using drugs. Lots of

American baseball players have problems in the news because people say

they use drugs to make their great performances. Using drugs in sports is a

problem because it is a way like cheating. Sports players who use drugs to

make bigger muscles make bigger muscles because of drugs, not because of

their efforts.
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It is also bad for players to take drugs because it changes their bodies. Sports

players who wear new sportswear still have to work hard to make their goals.

The sportswear makes some parts of sports easier, like less drag and better

temperature, so that makes records easier, but the sportswear does not

change the players’ bodies. Changing a player’s body for sports can have bad

problems for other parts of his life, like getting heart attacks or bad moods.

Sports players with big bodies and bad moods sometimes to bad things to

their families.

The new sportswear does not change a player’s body. It changes the

environment around the player. Every player can use the new sportswear

because it does not damage their bodies. It just makes getting records easier,

but it is a safe way.

Conclu sion

Sportswear technology is not just helpful; it can help to break the physical

limits of human in sports. Using new material, copying animals and machines

and reducing weight have already been verified. I think that breaking a world

record will depend a great deal on sportswear technology in the future.