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Olympic swimmers learn from the sharks
LOS ANGELES, Aug 30 (AFP) - After decades of ever-more-revealing competition swim suits, the most shocking skin on view at the Sydney Olympic pool will be imitation shark skin. High-tech bodysuits, one version made of fabric designed to mimic the way a shark's skin sluices off water, are being credited with slicing seconds off times. The trend is not to everyone's liking, but with the suits approved by swimming's world governing body, FINA, the various versions appear to be here to stay. Kieran Perkins, Australia's 1,500m freestyle world record holder, thinks they should be banned. But he wore one anyway at the Australian Olympic Trials. "I'm not going to get beaten by somebody because I'm not wearing one," he said. Australian Susie O'Neill wore a suit cut off at the knees and shoulders -- similar to one she wore at the Atlanta Games -- when she broke Mary T. Meagher's venerable 200m butterfly world record in May. "I didn't want people to think the suit swam 2:05, but it was also that I didn't want to think it either," said O'Neill, who added that she'd be trying out the full-length version for the Games. "I may as well experiment and get the fastest suit I can," she said. "It wouldn't make sense not to for the Olympics." American coach Paul Bergen, who coaches Dutch world record-breaker Inge de Bruijn in Oregon, believes the suit was a factor in de Bruijn's spree of seven world records in three weeks earlier this year. He said he had run more than 300 trials in practice with 20 different swimmers, and the suit was between four-tenths and six-tenths of a second faster over 25 meters. "That's two seconds in 100 yards," Bergen said. "So I think that suit is a piece of equipment. I don't see it as a costume." Tom Malchow of the United States, who set the men's 200m butterfly world record in short-sleeved, neck-to-ankle suit in June, swears by the suits, even though they're not exactly convenient. "I wouldn't want anybody to watch it," Malchow said of the contortions he goes through putting the suit on. "It's pretty ugly." Breaststroker Kristy Kowal likened the process to putting on nylons. "I couldn't even get it over my foot," she said of her first attempt. As well as any aquadynamic properties, the muscle compression provided by the suits may help distance swimmers -- although FINA rules ban devices that aid a swimmer's endurance. Some swimmers, like Malchow, say they feel higher in the water when they wear the suits -- another source of controversy since FINA rules prohibit devices that are buoyant. British athletics great Sebastian Coe said the body suits and other technological advances could put competitors from poorer nations at a disadvantage. "You don't want athletes to be disadvantaged simply because they don't have the technology available to them," Coe said in May. "In terms of the swim suits, we've got to be very careful that we're not isolating three or four countries that are able to do this from those that aren't." For similar reasons, US Swimming tried to ban the suits from the US Olympic Trials. They relented under pressure from manufacturers, who promised to make the suits available to all swimmers who wanted them. "Call me a purist," said American Olympian Gary Hall. "I've always believed it's man versus water, or man against man." Hall also feared the publicity about the suit would diminish the credit given to swimmers. "The suit doesn't make the swimmer, the swimmer makes the suit," Hall said. "What it does is take away what the swimmer has done to break the world record. "A guy up in the stands puts on a body suit, he's not going to break a world record." Or, as four-time Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken put it: "It's not going to make my mom break a world record.
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