CHICAGO — To “dress for success” has been an axiom in the business world since the invention of the self-help book. However, that theory has had nowhere near the impact on Wall Street as it has this year in the swimming pool.
With the Summer Olympics only four months away, the buzz in the swimming world isn’t about Michael Phelps’ quest to become the most decorated Olympian. It’s not about Australia closing the gap again on the American team.
It’s about a swimsuit.
Speedo’s LZR Racer swimsuit has made world records about as difficult to reach as an inflatable raft in the middle of your pool. Since Speedo introduced the suit in February, swimmers wearing the suit have broken 35 world standards.
“When I put it on, I feel like I’m some kind of action hero, ready to take on the world,” U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte said at the U.S. Olympic team media summit last week. “It makes me feel when I dive into that water (that) I’m swimming downhill.”
Said Phelps, who needs four Olympic gold medals for an unprecedented 10: “When I hit the water, I feel like a rocket.”
Others in swimming are feeling that rocket is too juiced up. Critics have called it “technological doping” and “drugs on a hanger.” They say swimming is becoming like Formula One racing.
Pieter van den Hoogenband, who has won three gold medals for Holland, told a French newspaper, “This allows far less talented swimmers to go fast.”
The suit’s supporters, namely the mass number of swimmers whom Speedo sponsors, are going on the offensive. Told that swimming is being compared to Formula One, Natalie Coughlin said: “That’s going way too far. It’s a suit. We have no engine other than our legs and our arms and our body propelling us through the water.”
Calling the LZR Racer a suit is like calling a Maserati a car. NASA helped design it in wind tunnels. At this point of the last Olympic year, in 2004, only five world records had been broken.
The full-body suit consists of ultrasonically bonded seams that, with the help of no stitching, reduce drag through panels embedded in the fabric to help compress the swimmer’s body.
Speedo claims the design leads to 5 percent less drag and is 4 percent faster than last year’s model in terms of starts and turns. Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, wearing the suit in a warm-up meet in Missouri last month, swam a 2:06.39 200-meter backstroke to beat a 16-year-old record by a remarkable 0.23 seconds.
The bad news is Coughlin, who helped with the research process in Canberra, Australia, said it takes her 15 to 25 minutes to put it on.
Speedo’s loyal swimmers wonder what the big deal is, particularly since FINA, swimming’s international governing body, approved the suit every step of the way. It gave its seal of approval this month at the World Short Course Championships in Manchester, England, where 18 world records went down, including four by Rochte.
Speedo’s leading supporter is Phelps. No wonder. Speedo has promised him $1 million if he equals Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in Beijing.
“Any single person in the world can wear that suit if they choose to,” Phelps said. “Speedo has made it available for anybody.”
Well, not really. Not every country can afford $550 for a swimsuit. U.S. swimmers not sponsored by Speedo don’t feel threatened. Brendan Han- sen wears a Nike suit but said rival outfitters are fighting, trying to get an upper hand.
He sees it all evening out by Beijing.
“So, it’s just kind of a fad,” Hansen said. “Other apparel companies will find a way to catch up.”
Some aren’t waiting around. South African captain Gerhard Zandberg said he’ll gladly pay the $4,750 fine from his sponsor, Arena, to switch to Speedo’s suit in Beijing.
If 18 world records fell at the short course championships, imagine how many will fall at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha from June 29 to July 6 with the best swimmers in the world fighting to make an Olympic team. The record book may need to go in an easy-to-move, three-ring binder.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
