Battle over swimsuits not letting up

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Eric Shanteau has been working the pool deck at the Charlotte UltraSwim, hoping to score one of those newfangled suits.

"I'm trying to get my hands on a Jaked," the Olympian said. "But those are tough to get for the Americans."

For those who thought the debate over high-tech swimsuits would settle down after the Beijing Olympics, think again. If anything, it's even more of a hot-button issue, with numerous companies starting up virtually overnight to come up with the latest, greatest thing while the record book is treated with all the reverence of a heat sheet.

Everyone seems to agree the technology has gone too far, but it's hard to find anyone who believes the sport's governing body will get a handle on things anytime soon. So we're left to wonder when yet another record falls: Was it the swimmer? Or was it the suit?

"I just don't want to see the integrity of the sport compromised," said Aaron Peirsol, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and world-record holder in the 100-meter backstroke. "I want to see people race people, not so much the suits next to them."

FINA, which oversees all aquatic sports, has called a meeting Monday at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland to rule on which suits will be legal for the rest of the year, most notably at this summer's world championships in Rome. The organization hired an independent lab to test all models of suits that were used to rewrite the sport's record book over the past 15 months.

No matter what comes out of the meeting, though, it will only be a temporary roadblock to what has been decried by critics as "technological doping" -- the rapid development of new swimsuit materials and designs, allowing swimmers to post times that wouldn't be possible based solely on their athletic prowess.

"The door has already been opened," Peirsol said. "It's kind of hard to figure out where you pull back to. You might not be able to. You might just have to stop it here."

He compared it to the East German swimmers who dominated the sport in the 1970s and '80s, only to be exposed as doping cheats once the Iron Curtain fell. He wonders if the current assault on the record book will be treated with the same degree of skepticism.

"A lot of old records that were really, really good are being taken down by people you've never even heard of," Peirsol said.

France's Frederick Bousquet was in a Jaked when he became the first swimmer to break 21 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle. He set the record at his country's national championships last month, and makes no apologies for what he was wearing.

Asked Saturday what he thought of all the talk about suits, Bousquet said, "It's very annoying."

A total of 108 world records were broken last year, and another 18 already have fallen in 2009 -- a stunningly high number for the year after an Olympics, since most of the top swimmers are coming off long breaks or still haven't returned to the pool, and there's no driving need to swim fast since the London Games are still more than three years away.

"My plan would be to ban all (high-tech) suits until 2012," Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte said, knowing full well that will never happen. "Let's all go back to old school. You can't wear a cap. You can't wear goggles. You have to grow a beard. There's no shaving down.

"Now that would be fun."

The fluidity of the situation is truly astonishing. A year ago, all the focus was on Speedo's LZR Racer, a suit that was developed with the help of NASA and stirred up the initial complaints about technology gone wild. Japan's national team allowed its swimmers to wear the LZR, breaking its agreements with domestic swimsuit makers. Nike got out of the competitive swimsuit business altogether when its best offering was deemed inferior to the LZR.

Since then, numerous companies have risen up to challenge mighty Speedo's dominance. If the records that have been set this year are any indication, the tiny Italian company Jaked and European swimwear giant Arena have already come up with suits that might be superior to the LZR.

The Jaked suit has drawn the most attention. Unlike the LZR, which is made of different materials with a limited amount of seams, the Italian suit is made from one piece of polyurethane. That's right -- there are no seams at all, which leads to even less resistance in the water.

Cullen Jones, one of America's top sprinters, planned to wear a Jaked for the first time Saturday night in the finals of the 50-meter freestyle in Charlotte.

"I put it on in my apartment," he said, "and I literally couldn't breathe."

Another issue that FINA plans to address is buoyancy. Critics of the LZR say it provides an unfair advantage by allowing swimmers to stay higher in the water, which also leads to less resistance and faster times. Other swimsuit makers have followed Speedo's lead in that area.

"There's a new suit coming out like every week," said Peirsol, who just signed a deal with Arena.

That's not much of a stretch. Michael Phelps' coach, Bob Bowman, said 22 manufacturers have submitted suits to FINA for approval.

"We're not talking 22 different suits -- this is 22 manufacturers!" Bowman said. "I didn't even know there were that many in the world. I thought there were about five, and I should know. This is my business. I'm like, '22?' A lot of people have gotten into the game because they can see an opportunity."

In the end, all this competition could work out well for the swimmers. The apparel companies have long been the primary source of income for many world-class athletes. The more of them there are, the better it is for everybody, said Evan Morgenstein, who represents many of the world's top swimmers, including Peirsol, Shanteau and Dara Torres.

"This has done everything from creating absolute anarchy and indecision among the athletes, coaches and federations, but it's also created opportunities that never existed before," Morgenstein said. "Athletes are actually being offered equity in swimsuit companies.

"I think it's great to have this many suit companies in the sport. I hope they are all wildly successful."

For those swimmers who don't have an apparel deal, it's like the wild, wild West.

"The nuclear arms race has gotten out of control," said Shanteau, who made headlines by swimming at the Beijing Olympics after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. "I may be in a different suit every race this weekend."

Don't blame the swimmers, he urged.

"My problem I have is that when people see these times and these records getting broken, they go after the swimmer," Shanteau said. "As swimmers, it's our job to be in the best suit that's out there. You're not going to show up for a race in a Camaro when you can be in a Ferrari."

For the record, Ferrari doesn't make a swimsuit.

Yet.