The swimsuit that takes 30 minutes to put on. $550 for 6 wears,fits like a corset

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.hdrjapan.com/japan/japan-news/putting-the-squeeze-on-the-controversial-lzr-racer-swimsuit/

Putting the squeeze on the controversial LZR Racer swimsuit
Friday, 01 August 2008

"It was almost impossible to put on alone; help from someone else was needed," Bunka Women's University professor Reiko Koga writes of the corset in her book "Korusetto no Bunkashi" (Cultural history of the corset), and the very word conjures up the satirical 18th century image of a corset wearer clinging to a bedpost as three people struggle to pull the cords tight.

Corsets were worn to pull in the waist and give the wearer an S-shaped body line. Now, in swimming, there is another costume that also pulls in sagging body parts: the LZR Racer swimsuit. The suit is designed to streamline the body to lower resistance in the water. Help is also needed to get into this swimsuit, and like the corset, it's not designed with comfort in mind.

In a study of clothing, Osaka Shoin Women's University professor Masashi Kobayashi expresses fears about adverse health effects on the body from use of the suit, such as circulatory disorders caused by excessive restriction. Corsets and the traditional Chinese practice of foot-binding, for example, have led to permanent disfiguration of the body in the past; and medical examination of the effects of their modern cousin, the LZR Racer, is necessary.






Debate about the fairness of the new swimsuit:

http://www.radionetherlands.nl/thestatewerein/otherstates/tswi-080816-level-olympics

right to a level playing fieldDAVE MCGUIRE 16-08-2008

15-08-2008
Swimmers at the Olympic Games in Beijing have been breaking world records left and right. Some explanations for the faster times include pool conditions, improved training, better nutrition... and the new swimsuits. But if technology has such a strong hand in deciding who wins, is there really a level playing field in sport? And don't athletes have a right to compete with each other based solely on their own abilities?

Tech triumph
The Speedo LZR Racer is designed to reduce the drag created by water flowing over the body. Swimmers claim it makes their bodies move faster. But this efficiency comes with a price - 550 dollars for a suit that can only be worn a half dozen times.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/11/sports/OLYARENA.php

High-speed body suits, then an outbreak of new swimming records
By Christopher Clarey Published: August 12, 2008

BEIJING

A world record in the Water Cube? The novelty effect is no longer in effect.

A total of eight world marks already have been broken - and in several cases obliterated - at this still-nascent stage of the Olympic swim meet. Many more are in grave danger over the remaining five nights and, more important at this particular Games, six mornings of competition.

To anyone who has been paying much attention to the sport before Beijing, all this chronometric revisionism should come as no shock, and that is not simply because Michael Phelps, already the greatest swimmer in history, is still at his peak.

One major source of the sport's current record glut can be traced to February, when the latest generation of body suits were introduced, first by Speedo and then, in a commercial panic, by other sporting goods companies whose contracted swimmers were none too pleased to see their rivals suddenly busting through virtual barriers in an Olympic year.

[Ellen Forradalom]

1. Let them swim naked

Problem solved.

[XemaSab]

3. What about the drag from differently sized, um... you know...

:hide:

[cliffordu]

5. Well...They'd have to come up with a handicapping system, or something....

:rofl:

[MiniMe]

7. rudders?

:hide:

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Women know about shrinkage, don't they?

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Women know about shrinkage, don't they?

[rug]

14. If they're any good they'll use it as a propeller.

[Toasterlad]

13. I Really, REALLY Agree With You!

It was good enough for the original Olympics; why not now???

[dkf]

2. I didn't even notice the speedos were low nowadays.

Must be getting old.

[riverdeep]

4. This is like any other sport.

When tennis switched from wooden to composite rackets it completely changed the sport- completely.

Using certain golf balls will give x amount of yardage over other golf balls, and so get banned. Only certain bats can be used in baseball and softball.

But let's face it. The Olympics ARE about who is willing to spend the most on producing a champion. Not every country can afford the suits, but not every country can afford the nutritionists, or masseuses, or highly paid coaches or any number of other things.

People think that the Olympics reveal some sort of national character. They don't. They reveal willingness to spend money on the symbolic benefits of athletic competition. Occasionally, an underfunded Jamaican bobsled team or something gets results- but usually who pays, wins.

[SoCalDem]

6. As long as they ALL wear them or have access to them. I see nothing wrong

I actually like the look of them:)

[Ex Lurker]

8. The fairness issue should be moot at the olympics

since I assume they're all wearing them. There might be a case at the lower levels where some athletes can afford them and some can't.

[entanglement]

11. Of course it's not fair - The Olympics are inherently unfair for many reasons

and there isn't too much to be done about it.

[MicaelS]

12. Let them all wear it

That way we won't have to watch them keep pull down the ass of their regular suits.

[Marr]

15. I believe the suit's designers offered to provide them for all competitors.