Swimming body suits

2003TexasGrad

2003TexasGrad

Son of a Motherless Goat
Im glad that people are finally talking about banning these things. Ever since I started seeing Phelps and others using them two years ago, and all the records started to be smashed, Ive hated them. Its not swimming anymore. The swimmers might as well be allowed to use steroids because thats what the suits basically are.

Sadly, when they finally do ban these suits, yes even the lower body halves, all these stupid records will still be there. They should eliminate all the new records set using the suits and restore those set the proper way, with just the little speedos. Its the swimmer and not the special suit that should determine the record.

Either that, or all these records must have an asterisk by them.
 
Kind of like baseball records of the last few years-meaningless. They have broken 35 world records in the latest swim meet, and it isn't over yet.
 
Frankly, yes they should if they want it right.... especially the ladies....
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I don't know. Sports evolve with technology. Track and field shoes, clothing, and surfaces have changed dramatically which especially effects distance runners. Speed skating has the clap skate now. Footballs (and gloves) are different from where they were back in the day which dramatically improves passing. Cycling, golf, tennis...

I've heard the dumb argument that less lean athletes get an advantage because the suit negates that weakness. I wonder what these less lean athletes think about Phelps. Hell in distance running, the new fabrics wick away sweat and keep you cooler than anything 30 years ago could possibly have done. So with that same logic, today's less conditioned runners have an advantage over the real harriers. Dumb. As long as everyone has access to the same level of technology it's fine by me.

The steroids line is overblown. Steroids are banned because they are destructive to your body. Athletes use legal/safe performance enhancing nutritional supplements and techniques (e.g. altitude tents) all the time. Swimming in these wet suits aren't gonna make your boys smaller or your head bigger.
 
The suits definitely enhance performance outside what the natural body is probably capable of. That is the point. In the desire to keep making swimmers faster, the technology is taking over the physicality. Id rather see swimmers in the little briefs using nothing more than their own bodies than see them don full body suits. Whats next? Fins? Flippers? Where does it stop?

Gloves make it easier to catch the ball, except for TO, but the QB still has to throw it with accuracy and see the field. Its different.

Call me a purist, but at some point we have to draw the line, in my opinion. Nutrition and exercise are fine, but leave it there. Dont add on equipment to the body to MAKE you faster. Its not you anymore, its the suit.
 
I think you're missing the point. The technology is there for everyone to use during that time. Technology will always improve and records will always be shattered.
 
So what was the technology back when Mark Spitz won his records?

The point is very clear: The body suits give the swimmer an exoskeleton through which they are able to swim faster. I dont like it. Its no longer the swimmer breaking the record, its the exoskeleton. So in other words, technology is great and all, but these records are meaningless to me because they are breaking records that had been previously been set by swimmers using nothing but their own skin and bones. Swimmers now are using synthetic skin. It might as well be called a different sport. Its not the same....
 
What about the new pools that dissipate turbulence and wakes? Do you think they should just swim in the pools the use to build on the basketball courts where Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed dived in during It's A Wonderful Life?

I understand the fact records in swimming (like track) are probably more respected because of the finite lengths and times. You're not only competing against your opponents, you can see specifically how you've done against the old time greats. Passing records in the NFL mean less because rules and technology have evolved so much. Records scores for the Masters and the US Open likewise, but what matters there is just the win.

I have to say though that it never bothered me in track which also are raced against the clock on the same distances through history. Altitude tents, high-tech fabrics and spikes, composite tracks...an athlete today just has too much of a technology advantage.

I always felt that technology (as long as it was available to everyone) reduced the volatility of "bad luck" in the field. I think what pool technology removes bad luck lanes where turbulence might effect the outcome. If you were in an outside lane in an older pool, you'd be at a disadvantage...how fair is that? 90% of swimming is technique...this is the essence of what you're tuning in to see when you watch swimming. That doesn't change with technology (akin to your "the QB still has to throw the ball and see the field"). In fact it makes it more important because their lane 9 or 1 is just as fast as your lane 4.

As long as the suit isn't propelling the swimmer (like as long as a golf club isn't providing a spring effect on the ball) I'd say let them use it.
 
They used to use wooden golf clubs and wooden rackets. So? The way the game of baseball is now pitched means that some records that are old will not fall to better pitchers who are pitching today. The BCS is, well, the BCS. Domed stadiums are a relatively recent phenomenon. Football players used to play both ways and have their own favorite ball to kick with using various types of tees. Skis have dramatically changed. So have skates. I don't think Teas Hold 'em was even invented until recently (really don't know). Soccer wasn't even played in the U.S. LaCrosse was played by pretty much just the Ivy league schools. The balls used in almost all sports have changed dramatically over the years. Seasons have changed. They used to use dynamite to catch fish and open sight rifles. Armies used to use spears and shields. Cycling has changed dramatically in equipment and has evolved more as a team sport now. Women only had about two sports. Curling and car racing used to require that you be drunk as **** on cheap alcohol. Now, you have to drink a lot of cheap beer to be able to watch it. Hell, they hardly even let the lions eat any of the losers any more.

So what?

The unfortunate fact is that the vast majority of people don't give a **** about swimming. I won't lie behind the log and bait you into saying something like "Just because YOU don't care for it... ..." then tell you that my son was a qualifier for the Texas State swimming and water polo teams he gets wet for. They REALLY don't give a **** about water polo in the middle part of this country.

I wouldn't let any of the changes give you much heartburn
 
I understand all the tennis, golf and other analogies. To me the difference with swimming, much like track and field, is your body, and your body alone, is what moves you to the finish line. To me in swimming it is just magnified with the body suits because they completely streamline your body and give you and exoskeleton that is not natural, so its no longer just your body that is moving through the water, its a synthetic skin.

No heartburn, and yes most people dont care about swimming, but I enjoy it and I want to see as little technology as possible attached to the swimmers. I want to see what they can do with nothing more than enough trunks to hide their junk. Removing the waves from the water is fine in my opinion, just dont touch the actual swimmer.

No heartburn, just my thoughts, but it seems most people dont have a problem with it, and thats fine. Majority rules.
 
If I was 2 inches taller I think I could have been a very good swimmer. I have the build of one, although Im not quite buff enough, more on the lean end. 6'0 just isnt tall enough I dont think. If Phelps was my height he woulda lost the 100 fly in Bejing for just being too short. He woulda lost to Crocker in 2004 too for the same reason.
 
Check me if I'm wrong, Sandy, but the suits don't do the strokes and kicks for the swimmers, do they??? I mean, the athlete STILL has to propel himself or herself through the water, right?

As long as the suits are an advantage made available to everyone, I have no problem with them.
 
Lets go along with the Texanne for a minute..... I might be mistaken, but baseball players still have to hit the ball, regardless of if they use steroids. And I think that cyclists in the tour still have to pedal through all those stages, even if they are juiced.

Of course, yes, not all players are doing it, and its an unfair advantage when not all players are using, but obviously the swimmer still has to stroke and kick their legs...... Lets not state the obvious here.

Just my opinion, but the full body suits give ALL swimmers an advantage in swimming faster than they would if they simply wore briefs. Its no longer just the swimmer, its the swimmer in a super skin, which to me is the same as Bonds and Sosa and McGuire and whoever else getting a super strength to hit the ball farther. It dimishes the feats of Maris and Aaron and all those who came before them.

And yes, I know golf clubs and tennis rackets have improved dramatically, but those arent timed races. Pete Sampras and Roger Federer arent competing against Bjorn Borg or Ivan Lendl head to head. However, Phelps and others are competing directly against the times of those who proceeded them. Its the same reason that I absolutely hate that Bonds and others have smashed the HR records by being juiced up.

Just my opinion. We disagree to disagree.
 
They're not banning all bodysuits, right? Just the specific ones that provide bouyancy or something. Phelps wears a different one than the ones that are being banned, I believe.

I could be wrong. I frequently am.
 
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