The Main Blurb
While Rebecca Soni was racing the semifinal of the 200
breaststroke tonight, commentator Dan Hicks mentioned that the world record at
that time was held by Canadian swimmer Annamay Pierse, who broke that record
during “the suit era.”
Here is my brief explanation about what “the suit era”
entails:
Right before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Speedo released a
new polyurethane-based swimsuit for its competitors called the LZR Racer. It
was a skin-tight suit – so tight that it took swimmers more time than usual to
shimmy the suit all the way up (it was seamless). The polyurethane was “designed
to help buoyancy and support certain muscles,” which allowed swimmers to swim
faster longer. (http://technology.inquirer.net/2276/swimming-%E2%80%98super-suit%E2%80%99-era-refuses-to-go-quietly
for those who are curious)
Swimmers took to this like bees to honey, and instead of
wearing the normal swimwear for competitors, they ordered suits that went down
to the ankles and up to their necks and even on their sleeves! And that was
just the men! (Full body suits were first introduced in the 2000 Olympics.)
These suits improved performance, just like advertised. The
problem was, it was almost too good.
And as swimmers turned to Speedo for their swimwear, competitors like Jaked and
Arena produced their own polyurethane-based swimsuits. And as more swimsuits
went on the market, more records fell. As a matter of fact, in the suit era
over 200 world records were broken!
The world record breaking had gotten out of control by the
time no-name swimmers in Rome (who were subsequently never heard from again)
were breaking world records in the world championships in 2009. As a matter of
fact, the suits became part of a rivalry between Serbia’s Milorad Cavic and Michael
Phelps. Cavic was wearing the X-Glide, a “next generation” all-polyurethane
suit made by Arena. Phelps stuck with his old reliable LZR Racer from Speedo,
not willing to part with his longtime sponsor. Cavic had said earlier in the
week that people would say Cavic beat Phelps “because of the suit.” He even
offered to buy one of the new suits for Phelps to wear in the 100 meter
butterfly final.
Well, Phelps ended up winning that final with the old suit,
and gave a yell as he tugged his LZR Racer. Clearly it was about more than just
“the suit.” (If you haven’t seen that race from 2009, go onto YouTube and watch
it. It was fabulous!)
But not all swimmers, coaches, viewers, and judges believed
that. After those world championships, FINA banned full-body swimsuits (having
banned suits that went on and past the neck and past the shoulders back in
March of that year), declaring that male swimmers will have suits from the
waist to the knee, and women swimmers from the shoulders to the knee. They also
declared that suits must be made of “textiles,” meaning the rubberized
polyurethane was now banned.
The ban took effect January 1, 2010, meaning any world
records broken after that mark would be remarkable, because the faster suits
were not in play. People said that there wouldn’t be a world record broken for
ten years after the “suit era.”
Well, in 2011 two world records fell (Sun Yang in the 1500 m
freestyle and Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM), and already in London five more have
fallen.
So hopefully you’ll more easily understand what Dan and
Rowdy are talking about if they ever make reference to “the suit era.” End of lesson.
Mini Blurbs
The best part of male gymnast Kohei Uchimura? His
anime-style hair. I was rooting for him to win soley because of his hair.
The Netherlands has a long history of great names, but I saw
one today that is added to my “greatest names” book: swimmer Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Kro-mo-wid-jo-jo. Even
with the five-syllable name, she doesn’t beat my Greatest Name of All Time:
male swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband. Just say it out loud. You can’t help
but smile.
There were some great finishes today, but nothing beats the
one one-hundredth second finish between American Nathan Adrian and Australia’s
James Magnussen. Pretty much all of Australia fell into a state of despair with
that touch by Adrian.
Congrats to Great Britain for their two gold medals today in
rowing and cycling!The rings on Tower Bridge turned gold in honor of the wins.
Watching the American women’s volleyball and water polo
matches were pretty thrilling today. The volleyball team beat China in a sweep,
but the Chinese made them play six match points before Megan Hodge finally
sealed the deal. She was on fire the final two sets. In water polo Spain had
the early lead, but the Americans came back and seemingly took over with
minutes left and a 9-6 lead. Well, Spain came back and the Americans were
forced into a draw, 9-9.
Losing on purpose like the badminton team? Anyone remember “Suck
for Luck”? (The thought last NFL season that teams were purposely tanking games
so they’d be #1 in the NFL draft and get Andrew Luck.) Things like this happen
way more often than we think.
Tonight’s roundup: cycling, gymnastics, swimming, water
polo, volleyball, beach volleyball, rowing, diving, baseball. (Baseball? Oh – I
did catch some of the Tigers-Red Sox game tonight. There is more going on than
just the Olympics, silly.)
Tomorrow I’m just going to stick with Mini Blurbs unless
something big happens. I have meetings all day tomorrow and a party in the evening,
so my Olympics attention will be a little less than normal. Bear with me!
