Image: Courtesy of Speedo
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In 2009, Speedo’s research team began to brainstorm innovative ways to help swimmers go faster. The polyurethane bodysuits that contributed to an astonishing number of swimming world records over the previous 18 months had been banned. To think outside the box, the Speedo representatives met outside the lab, joining academics, coaches and research consultants at hotels, conference centers and even an English country house to spawn ideas, ideas inspired more by Captain Avenger than Mark Spitz.
“Lots of conversation was had around wild and wacky ideas,” says Joe Santry, the research manager for Speedo’s Aqualab in Nottingham, England. “Some of the initial sketch concepts brought to the table looked like a superhero suit with a sleek cap, goggle, and suit combination that wouldn’t look out of place in a Marvel comic.”
They were trying to replace the now infamous full-body LZR suit. Dubbed “the rubber suit,” it compressed a swimmer’s body into a streamlined tube and trapped air, adding buoyancy and reducing drag. Speedo says 98 percent of the medals at the 2008 Olympics were won by swimmers wearing the LZR. Michael Phelps set world marks in seven of his eight events at Beijing wearing the suit, but applauded its ban.
The new rules, in effect since 2010, permit only “jammers,” suits from the kneecap to navel for men, and from the knee to shoulder for women. The fabric must be air permeable, and a suit may not have any fastening devices such as a zipper, a response to companies that began creating wetsuit-like neoprene suits after the 2008 Olympics.
Ultimately, Speedo decided to rebuild not only the suit, but create a “racing system” that it claims combines the suit and the goggles and cap working in synergy to reduce drag and improve performance.
At Aqualab, researchers took four years and spent 55,000 man-hours to produce what Speedo calls the Fastskin 3 system. The internal team of 19 supplemented by outside experts talked to hydrodynamic experts, aircraft engineers and nano textile producers. They called on experts in kinesiology, biomechanics, fluid dynamics and even a sports psychologist, who suggested a blue-gray tinge on goggle lenses to instill a sense of calm and focus. They tried the “Six Thinking Hats” method of brainstorming, a green hat for creative ways to attack a problem, a black one to look at the feasibility of those ideas. They “reverse brainstormed,” picturing how to make a swimmer go as slow as possible with oversized goggles and a suit compressing the body so parts stuck out, creating drag. The crazier the idea,the better.
“It opens up your mind,” Santry says. “We all have a strict path of how we get used to thinking. We used those techniques to pull out interesting facts and work around ideas.”
They scanned athletes in 3-D, creating avatars so computational fluid dynamics software could uncover where turbulence and drag were being created, similar to racing car teams that use aerodynamic modeling. “We found the head and goggles created huge amounts of turbulence at the top of the body, and this slowed down the swimmer and decreased the effect of the suit,” Santry says. “So much like a Formula 1 car, which has this wing that allows you to set up airflow, we realized we needed something like that for a swimmer.”
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11 Comments
Add CommentIn recent months I have heard of polyurethane and polyethylene being used to do amazing things as part of next-generation body armor, sports equipment and artificial hips. And now competitive swimsuits. Amazing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe simplest solution to this problem is to require all competitors to be completely naked. Swimming is seeing technology external to that which alters the body now, instead of later, because fluid dynamics are already somewhat well-understood; we can expect uniforms to play a greater role in performance in many other Olympic competitions in the near future. Asking competitors to abandon the notion of "pure" competition is a bit much a bit too fast, but a ban on clothing is very easy to explain, and solves much of the problem.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll the men wear the same suits.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with Kingoftheinternet that if we really want our athletes to be purists in their quest for Olympic glory based purely on physical strength and ability is to do it completely naked. However, we all know that it's never going to happen that way. The next best thing is to embrace modernity and make sure that all the Olympians have access to the same kind of high tech suits/gears to even out the playing field among athletes from poor and rich countries.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm sorry, but...Captain Avenger? Really?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEven without clothes, swimsuit, they can find way to modify the body itself with microsurgical interventions to add buoyancy with implanted airtight nanotubes or some other kind of material. That's not the obligation to go nake that will stop the imagination to find ways to circumvent the rules.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe LZR suit probably improves performance bec. Phelps set 7 world records wearing it. Now he can't even get 3rd place without the suit. Adding bouyancy and reducing drag are even more effective in long distance swimming.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHmm I should try that LZR suit to improve my time in 1.5 km swim in triathlon. But removing it afterwards would waste time. I can't wear it cycling and running.
The controversial discussion of the use of technology to enhance human performance in the competitive arena is going to have to quicken itself in order to keep up with the technology. That said - TCT Magazine wrote an article about how Speedo's Aqualab uses Objet 3D printers in their design process: http://ow.ly/cvwtK If you're interested in other stories about 3D printing being used in the world of sports, check out Objet's Facebook page where we are covering the topic during the Olympics: https://www.facebook.com/Objet.3d.printer. Disclaimer - I work for Objet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou know this is about productive as designing a powered golf club and a radar tracking golf ball. Is there no end to this attempt to make all records meaningless and turn the games into a design contest. Of course it makes millions for the designer but ignores the spirit of the Olympics. Contestants now get there expenses paid, and need not work like a true amateur would. The disgrace of including professional basket ball players because of Russia's dominance,and professional tennis players for the same misbegotten reason. Millions spent in research to win a medal worth about 10 bucks. Millions spent in advertising etc, etc. to Corporation's delight.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnough I say ---- "enough no more it is not as sweet as twas before"
read their for there
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn USA men dress up. Even young men can be seen in slim-cut dark suits, and shiny black shoes. They all wear scarves and seem to know how to knot them expertly. This doesn't mean that you (men) have to wear suits. Choose our casual wear with care and attention. <a href="http://www.mensusa.com/SearchResult2.aspx?searchword=cashmere&searchword2=blazer">Men in USA wear cashmere sport jacket</a>, corduroy blazer and sport coats. Stylish jeans are seen everywhere.
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