Let's Go For A Dip
Posted: Sun 02 Aug, 2009 14.33
Anyone else bored with the constant whinging and whining coming out of the swimming world about these supposed new high-tech suits?
Other sports have embraced technology to improve and help the respective athlete go faster, or higher, or stronger or the like: footballs, football boots, football shirts, rugby shirts, rugby balls, snooker balls, snooker tables, Formula One cars, running shoes, golf clubs, basketballs, tennis balls, tennis / squash racquets, racing cycles and cycling clothing, boxing gloves, sailing boats, gymnastics equipment, javelins, canoes, skis and skipoles, bobsleighs... well that's all I can think of for the moment, but I'm sure there's more.
So why, now that swimmers are able to go faster, is there such a stink being kicked up? If it's because of lack of availability of the suits for all, the quicker they are accepted as the norm, the more widespread they will become. I'm not sure what the answer is myself, but I feel that just because something has been invented that enables a lot of swimmers to go faster all of a sudden it doesn't mean it's a bad thing.
The worst thing was when Michael Phelps said he would never race again (until the suits were banned) after he was beaten for the first time in 15 months, having benefited surely from technological advances in swimsuit technology himeslf. He then went on to win the next day wearing a 50% polyutherane suit.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 161867.stm
Other sports have embraced technology to improve and help the respective athlete go faster, or higher, or stronger or the like: footballs, football boots, football shirts, rugby shirts, rugby balls, snooker balls, snooker tables, Formula One cars, running shoes, golf clubs, basketballs, tennis balls, tennis / squash racquets, racing cycles and cycling clothing, boxing gloves, sailing boats, gymnastics equipment, javelins, canoes, skis and skipoles, bobsleighs... well that's all I can think of for the moment, but I'm sure there's more.
So why, now that swimmers are able to go faster, is there such a stink being kicked up? If it's because of lack of availability of the suits for all, the quicker they are accepted as the norm, the more widespread they will become. I'm not sure what the answer is myself, but I feel that just because something has been invented that enables a lot of swimmers to go faster all of a sudden it doesn't mean it's a bad thing.
The worst thing was when Michael Phelps said he would never race again (until the suits were banned) after he was beaten for the first time in 15 months, having benefited surely from technological advances in swimsuit technology himeslf. He then went on to win the next day wearing a 50% polyutherane suit.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_s ... 161867.stm
