I have decided to switch it up a little with this blog post and talk about something other than a person’s health. As a swimmer, I have always known about the new cool equipment for swimmers. One new thing that really made a splash (pun intended) in the swimming world was the full body suits. These full body suits were first used at the world swimming championships in Rome during July of 2009. At this meet, 21 new world records were set.Everyone in the swimming world went in an uproar about these new suits that are too fast to be used in meets, because they were considered cheating. So what is it about these new full-body suits that are so special?
Looking into the Suit
The most important part about these suits was the material that they were made with. Polyurethane is an extremely thin layer of foam like material that enclosed tiny pockets of gas, which would make the swimmer much more buoyant compared to just wearing a speedo. Because of this new buoyancy, swimmers floated higher in the water, producing less drag as they moved through the water. These suits also were really good at fitting onto the body. The suits had tiny fibers that changed the shape of the suit as the swimmer moved, which decreased a lot of drag in a regular suit, which would make a swimmer move through the water a lot faster. The only downside about that is that it took about 20 minutes for someone to get them on because they were pretty tight. Also they only last for about a few races and then they start to stretch out.
Banning Them
After the public realized how much of an advantage it was to have one of these suits, FINA, the world governing body of swimming banned these type of suits in January 2010. The unfortunate part about these suits is that there were world records that were broken when swimmers wore these suits, because it made them so much faster. These records set by these suits might not ever be broken again because no swimmer will have that type of advantage like with the full body suits.
Are these suits that bad?
After seeing how much of an uproar these suits caused, I wondered if these suits really made swimmers that much faster? Was it really because of the suits, or were the world records actually broken because of the swimmer? Maybe this issue was blown out of proportion and peoples emotional attachments to the sport made them exaggerate how much of an advantage it really was to have these full body suits. I believe the best way to answer these questions is from experimental tests. I have done a lot of research but could not find an experiment that involved fully body swimsuits with Polyurethane. I would like to propose an experiment that would possibly answer how much faster these suits really are. This experiment ideally would have a big group of participants, like over 30 swimmers. Also it would be better if these swimmers were very fast swimmers, like olympians. This would help because if the participants are experts at racing, then their times should be more consistent compared to a swimmer who is not that experienced with racing. I would make these swimmers swim a handful of different races with the full body polyurethane suits on. I would then let the swimmers wait about a week so they can rest before they do the same exact handful of races, expect not using full body suits. The swimmers would do the exact same practices that week as they did before and they would do the same type of warmup before both racing days. These similarities will help the scientists focus on the differences of the swimmers racing times solely on the suits. I would like to compare the two racing times and see which suits were faster, the full body suits, or the regular suits.
Conclusion
Hopefully this hypothetical experiment would help us answer how much faster the full body suits are compared to the regular suits, or if there is even a difference with the suits. For now, we don’t know for sure that these suits are responsible for the record breaking races at the world swimming championships of 2009 unless there is an experiment made. But for now we can assume that these full body suits are the reason why so many world records were broken, because of the physics with the polyurethane I explained earlier in the blog. I have learned a couple of things from this blog, and if you take anything away from this blog, it should be that nothing is definitive unless it is experimented with science. Also you should take away the idea that experiments are emotion-proof. Some people could think that the full body suits ruined swimming because they were SO MUCH faster than regular suits, but maybe their emotions were involved with their opinion. Experiments would leave the emotions behind as they find a true answer for this question. If you have any questions, please comment below!
As a swimmer myself, I was immediately drawn in by the title. I think your proposed experiment makes a lot of sense to see if these polyurethane suits really made a difference in speed. One critique to your experimental design would be to randomly assign all participants to two groups. From there, have the first group race in the polyurethane suits week 1 and the regular suits week 2. Conversely, have the second group race in the regular suits week 1 and the polyurethane suits week 2. This design controls for the confounding variable of an extra week of practice having an effect on swim time. Also, as I was trying to find experiments, I came across a study that had similarities to the study you proposed. This study analyzed the the drag associated with three suits: a polyurethane suit, a normal suit, and no suit (light underwear). Using “computational fluid dynamics”, one olympic level swimmer went through three scans with water around her to simulate drag. It was found that there was 40 percent more drag in the control group (no swimsuit) compared to the swimsuit groups. However, the polyurethane suit only had 1 percent less drag than the regular suit. Keep in mind, these results could always be due to chance. Also, this experiment only has a sample of 1 person. It would be interesting to see other types of people measured other than an olympic athlete to see if drag is affected by body type. Also, adding more people would account for other confounding variables such as suit fit. Though this study is not completely the same as the one you proposed, the way they measured the suits by drag coefficients is an idea that might strengthen your experimental design. I still like your idea of using olympic athletes since they do tend to be more consistent (and it is more real-world applicable), but maybe propose a follow-up experiment that uses “computational fluid dynamics” to further validate or challenge your original results. That is what science is all about anyways, right? Continually challenging results and ideas until something can be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The sites used for the facts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_record_progression_4_%C3%97_100_metres_freestyle_relay
http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results/london-2012/swimming/4x100m-freestyle-relay-m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_4_%C3%97_100_metre_freestyle_relay
Watching the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships where the suits were in use, it was unbelievable how these records were being broken. Specifically in the 4×100 Freestyle relay in 2008, the fact that the winners were approximately 4 seconds under World Record time without the suits and six of the eight teams were better than World Record time without the suits makes the probability the suits had some impact high. The winners in 2012, who were not wearing the suits, would not have even won a medal in 2008 based on their time.
Very good post. I am not much a swimmer and defiantly am not involved in the swimming community. I found this post very informational. I didn’t know anything about the conflict these suits had. I like how you designed your post with explaining what the suit was and how it effected the swimmers. I also agree with your hypothetical study that should be produced to actually determine the effectiveness of the suits. Maybe they will be banned one day after these results.
I found this article to be very well written and very informing. I do not competitively swim, but I have surfed my entire life. Parts of the year I am required to wear a full body wet suit to stay warm. These wetsuits aren’t made for speed or hydrodynamics like the suits you spoke about are, they are more for warmth and protection from the harsh environment. It is very clear that when I am in the suit, I am far more constricted from movement compared to when I am only in a bathing suit. It gets a lot harder to surf in the wetsuits. I wonder if surf companies applied the same materials and science into the surfing wetsuits, as are in the swim suits, surfers would be less constricted and be able to move more freely and paddle faster. Just a thought. Great blog!