WASHINGTON -- Vindication is sweet! During last summer's Olympics, I wrote in this space that the high-tech swimsuits worn by competitive swimmers in the events and manufactured by Speedo with the assistance of NASA scientists were irrelevant to sport and destined for further controversy. In fact, I argued that the suit, known as the Speedo LZR Racer, is as inappropriate for competitive swimming as wearing swim fins in the pool. Now a rising chorus of swimming coaches and competitors at this week's NCAA Division I swimming championships seems to agree.
The LZRs are made of high-tech material. They cover a competitor's body from shoulders to ankles. The material allows the body to float higher in the water. It also offers less resistance to the water than human skin, allowing those who encase themselves in it to glide through the water faster. Consequently, in championships, everyone wants to wear an LZR. Those who do obviously have an unfair advantage over those who, for whatever reason, do not. Not surprisingly, since the arrival of the LZR, the incidence of world records has increased -- though that does not mean that today's champions in the high-tech suits are really faster than pre-high-tech swimmers.
In fact, the use of the high-tech suits by Michael Phelps last summer casts doubt on the claim that his performance was greater than that of Mark Spitz in 1972. Phelps won eight golds, one more than Spitz. But Spitz, wearing a pre-tech suit best described as a brief, set world records in every event he won. Phelps equaled Spitz's seven world records, but the records he beat were set in olden times, before the advent of the LZR. It is estimated that the LZR improves a swimmer's time by at least 3 percent. Did Phelps best each world record by at least 3 percent? He did not. Spitz's Olympic performance is arguably history's best.
We can thank the inventers of this idiotic aquatic contraption for this idiotic debate. Also, we must thank NCAA officials who last September decided to allow its use in intercollegiate swimming. Why did they not allow the use of swim fins, too?