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The Swimmer Speaks
Dec 19, 2008 - Craig Lord
Swimmers have not been silent on suits but many, particularly those who oppose high-technology, have not felt free to speak out. In the past month, SwimNews has received a large number of e-mails from swimmers. Opposition to high-technology is widespread. Many feel "afraid" to speak openly. Here are some who have spoken.
No need to fear anything when no-one can reach you. Great to hear the voice of Michael Gross. The Albatross was one of those swimmers from a luddite generation that swam in the days when swimming was boring. Here's what one of the most successful and thrilling swimmers in history has to say in Germany:
"It has become a technology battle which even overshadows the doping debate. That is a wrong turn for the sport. Swimming is risking maneuvering itself on to the sidelines." Gross called for a return to "swim shorts and suits" or at least for a standard suit to be used by all athletes. Gross won three Olympic gold medals and five world titles in a glorious senior career that stretched from 1980 to 1991. "I am glad that we didn't have this discussion during my days. But the worst thing is that the kick is slowly gone for the swimmers as well, the motto being 'I can try whatever I want, it is the suit that wins'."
And this from David Maitre, the French sprinter who has seen this happen in France on 50m free:
Maitre did not get a fast suit given to him for French Olympic trials - so, he was a little off the pace, you might say. All that hard work, expectation and hope gone, in the flick of a suit.
Maitre says: "I am not retired but I lived, last April, the worst moment of a sportsman career when a political decision crush[ed] four years of work. I started few months ago a new season to know if I am still in modern swimming or not. Practice, technical skills and talents are not anymore the most important things in swimming. Nobody knows what swimmers are wearing and ... the progress of some people are too enormous to be understood. I do not want a sport like Formula 1. I want a sport where the body has a real role and where the swimmer need to be in good shape to swim fast. A sport where your[e] not putting everything of your work in your suit. A sport where everybody is at the same level on the blocks (understand me, after the work, obviously)."
Thanks to Mark Warkentin, 2008 Olympian for the USA in the 10km (he finished 8th less than 20sec from the podium - that's about 0.2sec off a medal every 100m in the pool at a rough estimate - so, right up there), for this insight:
"The demographic that should be looked at more significantly is the midrange athlete that dropped a lot of time but didn't break the world record or win a gold medal. Here at the American Olympic Trials, in a race like the 200 Free, everyone saw male athletes drop 2 to 3 seconds in one summer. They'd get out of the pool after going from a 1:50 to a 1:47 and, when they'd take the suit off their shoulders, they looked out of shape. Even if everyone uses the same high-tech suit in the future,we're going to see that the most talented swimmers are going to win races at every level and that training and preparation are going to become much less important. Less talented swimmers that can maximize their potential through preparation do not have a fighters chance with the high-tech suits. This goes against one of the core fundmantals of swimming - that preparation is paramount."
Unfair to ask swimmers to comment on kit that is helping them and is legal, approved, say some. I take the point. But then it is hard to read this from Libby Trickett and let it pass without comment:
"...I read that in 1972, I think, there were 53 world records broken, and there has been 54 [long course] this year," Trickett said. "What provided that difference that year? ... I don't think it really makes sense to ban the suits across the board, because then we would be going back over a decade ago to when we were just wearing the togs - and that, to me, would be a reversal in the sport. I don't see why we would want to go back to that time."
Well, young Libby. the reason to keep the suits is because someone is paying you to do just that. The reason to get rid of them is because the sport is being torn apart, tradition lost, core strength work is being cut out of programmes that have seen some women in their mid 20s drop from 4:48s to a sub 4:30 400m medley, and some coaches come up to you on the deck and point out the girls with large backsides and heavy thighs who are beating girls who are built to swim. Women who in a normal suit wouldn't stand a chance against those graced by nature to swim fast are touching home close to world-record time. Nature has been altered and the suits work differently for different people. The result sheet is being skewed by the suits.
And the reason we "would want to go back" is because some very clever scientists have invented medical and therapeutic garments that talk to the central nervous system, partly through the use of compression and materials used in the suit you have on your back. Among patents now in place for such products, products aimed at the medical market, are some that make specific mention of swim suits. FINA, through no fault of its own, would not be able to test for biofeedback, the scientists say. Happy, then, Libby, to keep wearing your suit when the woman in the next lane to you will look exactly like you but she'll be an awful lot faster? Happy to wear the doping suit yourself, Libby?
Besides that, interesting to note that she picks on 1972. She inflated the figure a little but perhaps she reads the wrong sources. She did not note the stats for Games 1980 to 2004 and avoids mentioning that the stats this year compare (and go beyond on some measures) those relating to an era when doping drove standards at a rate and pace beyond recognition. And here is a very important footnote to that era:
In the early 1970s, the GDR wore lycra suits that rid the sport of a modesty skirt on suits and had a high neck and back panel (with zip) placed between shoulder blades. The suit was a big breakthrough. US women lobbied hard to get those who governed them to do away with modesty clauses and let them compete on an even footing. The GDR explained that the suit was behind their great improvements, alongside hard work and sports science. No mention of the true fuel of a progress masked at every turn by anything that could be put up as explanation. No mention of Oral Turinabol. If today's suit is not, in some dark corners, of the sport, being used to mask doping, I'll eat my swim cap and goggles.
Trickett, in her interview with the SMH, tells us that no-one was at a disadvantage, she tells us that suits were available for all. She does not, of course, tell us that she was among the fortunate few who got to test the LZR from April 2007. She knew every inch of the suit, what it felt like, how to adjust to it if adjustment were needed, long, long, long before many swimmers got their first swim in the suit. Some swimmers donned a LZR for the first time at the Olympic Games. Many swimmers around the world in Olympic trials had to race for a place against swimmers who already had the good stuff on their backs. UNFAIR, Libby. Absolutely UNFAIR. She also tells us that she feels that the suits don't do nearly as much as some people claim. Some people? How about Speedo, your sponsor, Libby? Ask them, ask them to remind you what US head coach Mark Schubert said about black and white decisions back in April this year. The fact is, he was right, Speedo was right: the suit did just about everything it said on the label and the stats are there to back that up now - in abundance. It also spawned a pool full of wetsuit lookalikes (you may or may not have seen them Down Under yet) that buoy performance and have no place in the pool.
Here are some views from swimmers who do not wish to be named.
"Any swimmer who says that the latest suits don't help that much is just a liar. The advantages are so obvious from the first time you dive in. It feels amazing. I did lifetime bests in three races ... and felt no pain at all. I've never felt so fresh at the end of a race."
"I train in a squad with two girls who have been about 20 seconds behind me on the long medley [taken as 400m] for as long as we can all remember. We've been friends since we were little. This year, one of those girls swam faster than me. We do the same training, nothing has changed. She's nowhere near me in training. With the [xxx] suit on, she beats me. It's wrecked our friendship. I hate the suits. She knows that the suit works best for her but she won't say it."
"I go faster in my [xxx] but I'm an emotional mess before races. It takes so long to put the [xx] on and then I'm frightened that it splits just when I'm getting on the blocks. That's why some of us are wearing two suits."
Over the coming weeks beyond the holidays, We will post more views in this file from a silent but significantly large shoal - and correct any misguidance we find being touted around the world media.
Swimming is stacked with bright swimmers who have much more to say than "I want my suit" or "I don't want my suit". Here are some of the issues. And here is one solution. Tell us how you feel on those and how you think swimming might climb out of the mess it finds itself in. You can reach me at craig@swimnews.com
Below this line we will run the views of swimmers who wish to have their views aired but do not wish to be named (their names are known to SwimNews):
From the Americas:
Hello,
I've been following the evolution of the "supersuits" on your site, and through personal experiences since last February. At the beginning I must admit that I was both skeptical that a suit could function so well for an athlete - at the time I was wearing an FS Pro for the first time and I already felt like it was helping me stay higher in the water. Also, I was quite excited by the new suits, like all swimmers must have been at the time. Everyone wanted to get there hands on one, and some did. Fortunately I had the opportunity to try one out over the course of the summer (a friend lent it to me to try out - although, unfortunately not in a race) and I must say that I felt completely free in the water. My kickouts - which I could usually count on as being a source of downtime during my race - became so fast that i considered changing my entire race startegy if I were to have worn a LZR in one. Needless to say I was impressed.
However, I have recently heard stories form both sides of the argument...
First, one of the guys I train with - he has trained with many well known Olympic medallists and holds his own national record here in Canada - recently told me that when he was training in the U.S. last year he attended a meet in Missouri (I believe). I think you are familiar with which meet I am talking about. Anyway, at this meet Speedo had apparently made available its new LZR to all swimmers who wanted to try one on. My teammate informed me that roughly 600 were available at the time!!! Now I don;t know if what he said to me was 100% true, but if it was then how can Speedo claim to be unable to deliver them to other markets? I don't think that the LZR suits were all that difficult to manufacture, especially with the way they were manufacturing the FS Pros (most of the time these suits would tear at the seems because Speedo was having them manufactured in Mexico). And what a perfect way to create a storm of media publicity for its new product, effectively keeping supply low and driving demand up, its always about the money...
I don't see why we can't monitor the workings of such companies... The World of swimming is Speedo's main market, and it is not up to us - as athletes and swimmers - to bend at the whym of the companies. Companies such as Speedo whould be more respectful towards us, and so should FINA for that matter. They me be getting their coffers stuffed by the boys at Speedo, but what happens if athletes stop supporting them? Then where will the money come from?
Secondly, and on a more personal note. I have never been one of the tallest or strongest swimmers in the pool. However, I not used these slights as excuses, and I have always worked hard at finding every single little trick which could help me be competitive. Therefore, I always worked hard on my kickouts, my technique, and my body position in the water. I was also very fortunate to be surrounded by very knowledgeable coaches and more senior swimmers who were always willing to give me new tips. So, as I had hinted to earlier, I developed a decent underwater butterfly kick, and this for the most part allowed me to be very competitive over the short course distances, and as I improved my endurance, over long course distances as well.
However, I recently raced one of my friends who was wearing a LZR. He has never had the best technique, and he does not use underwater kickouts at all; but somehow when I was racing him I lost the race not on the swimming portion but on the underwater portion. No matter how hard I tried to keep up, he seemed to effortlessly kick past me. After that race, and that competition, I began to question what had happened. How is it that he can drop 5 seconds in a 200? How is it that he is not even out of breath after the race? And how is it that after years of being able to beat him in some areas of the race, he should be able to beat me so effortlessly? I asked my friend what he had done to change his kickouts so drastically since we last raced. All he replied to me was "nothing".
I think that "nothing" is the best way to sum up what has happened to the sport of swimming since February 2008. Because there is NOTHING being done by either companies or FINA to try and tame the madness. There is NOTHING being done differently by most swimmers around the world to explain for such ridiculous times. Finally there is NOTHING I feel I can do in training to make myself competitive with someone who wears one of the suits, and I know that this is a feeling that can be related to swimmers everywhere.
So what can swimmers like myself do. We are the "middle class" of swimming. We have ambitions, we want to succeed, we want to make a national team or an Olympic one, and we train our asses off every single day because we believe we can. But when something arrives that is completely out of our hands, and we know that we can't even hope to obtain it, then how can we still believe in our own ability to become Olympians one day? Or even be competitive on the international scene? I do believe that it is unfair
for those swimmers on the top stages who are competing and watching others make leaps and bounds towards becoming competitive with them, but "the average joe" is being left in the dust; and there is nothing else we can do but feel helpless about it.
Hoping that Mr. Larfaoui wakes up before its too late,
Anonymous.
