stewartel8
New member
@jdeds The full body suits were banned because of like…fluid dynamics (I’m definitely not a physics expert but I’ll try to summarize as best I can). It did not have anything do to with sexualization or showing skin. The regulatory body voted to ban the suits since full body swimsuits give swimmers an “unfair advantage” by increasing their buoyancy so they have less drag. The full body suits would cover the entire leg. The suits that are still allowed cover the upper half of the leg and expose the arms.
But the new swimsuits took these measures a whole lot further. They were made from an extremely thin layer of foamlike material that enclosed tiny pockets of gas that made the swimmer wearing the suit to be far more buoyant. As a result, swimmers floated higher in the water and were subject to less drag. The suits in effect pushed water away from the swimmer’s body and were therefore dubbed hydrophobic.
The drag on the human body moving in water is around 780 times larger than the drag when moving in air, so there is considerable advantage to getting as much of the body above the water level as possible. These suits also made the body shape very smooth and hydrodynamic. Instead of the joint between a man’s body and the waist cord of his swimsuit adding extra drag, there was now a seamless, wrinkle-free, low-resistance outer shell skimming through the water. Tiny fibers on the surface of the suit could move to keep the shape streamlined and its texture smooth as the body shape changed through the stroke. Overall there was the possibility of an 8 percent reduction of drag on a swimmer. There are downsides, however. Putting on one of these thin-film polyurethane suits takes about half an hour, so you wouldn’t want to use one in every early-morning training session! And they don’t last long: you will need a new one after every few races, and they are not cheap, costing about $500 each in America.
The result of all of this was the erasure of outstanding world records by performances that were intrinsically inferior. Twenty new world records were set at the World Swimming Championships in Rome during July 2009 alone. Not all swimmers were wearing these suits at championships, though, and races were becoming manifestly unfair. Those who wore them were entering a technological arms race as different sponsoring companies tried to produce superior suits for their swimmers. Moreover, the sponsorship deals that top swimmers had entered into prevented them from switching to the best suit if it was made by a rival company.
But the new swimsuits took these measures a whole lot further. They were made from an extremely thin layer of foamlike material that enclosed tiny pockets of gas that made the swimmer wearing the suit to be far more buoyant. As a result, swimmers floated higher in the water and were subject to less drag. The suits in effect pushed water away from the swimmer’s body and were therefore dubbed hydrophobic.
The drag on the human body moving in water is around 780 times larger than the drag when moving in air, so there is considerable advantage to getting as much of the body above the water level as possible. These suits also made the body shape very smooth and hydrodynamic. Instead of the joint between a man’s body and the waist cord of his swimsuit adding extra drag, there was now a seamless, wrinkle-free, low-resistance outer shell skimming through the water. Tiny fibers on the surface of the suit could move to keep the shape streamlined and its texture smooth as the body shape changed through the stroke. Overall there was the possibility of an 8 percent reduction of drag on a swimmer. There are downsides, however. Putting on one of these thin-film polyurethane suits takes about half an hour, so you wouldn’t want to use one in every early-morning training session! And they don’t last long: you will need a new one after every few races, and they are not cheap, costing about $500 each in America.
The result of all of this was the erasure of outstanding world records by performances that were intrinsically inferior. Twenty new world records were set at the World Swimming Championships in Rome during July 2009 alone. Not all swimmers were wearing these suits at championships, though, and races were becoming manifestly unfair. Those who wore them were entering a technological arms race as different sponsoring companies tried to produce superior suits for their swimmers. Moreover, the sponsorship deals that top swimmers had entered into prevented them from switching to the best suit if it was made by a rival company.