Vlad Polyakov was one of the first elite swimmers to try out the Speedo LZR Racer at the USA Swimming Grand Prix in St. Louis, Missouri this February.

The 2004 Olympian from Kazakhstan went into a special tent, signed out one of the 10 suits available at the meet, and wore it in his breaststroke events.

“I wish I didn’t have to give it back,” Polyakov said.

“I definitely saw a difference and dropped a lot of time in the morning swim which normally never happens. My stroke count was a lot less, which means I was a lot more efficient in the water. I had never worn a full-body suit before.” The University of Alabama graduate trains with four-time Olympian Dara Torres and several elite U.S. and international swimmers at the Coral Springs Aquatic Complex in South Florida.

Polyakov, like every other swimmer training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is looking for any kind of edge he can find; whether it’s state-of-the-art dry-land training, extra sets in the pool or an advanced racing suit.

The space-age design LZR is providing that edge for many swimmers who are under contract with Speedo.

Already qualified to represent Kazakhstan for his second consecutive Olympics, Polyakov would like to have the suit for the Olympic Games. He is hoping to medal in the breaststroke.

“I am pretty sure by the Olympics everybody should be able to have one,” Polyakov said. “Everybody should have an equal opportunity to have the suit whether they are American or not. I think it definitely makes a difference.”

More than 3,000 of the LZR suits, produced at a factory in Portugal, will be made available to Speedo swimmers who have qualified for the U.S. trials. Speedo officials said its staff at the trials will make the suit available to any swimmer who wants one, including those under contracts with other companies.

The U.S. Olympic team, whose roster will be finalized by July 6 at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, is expected to get completely outfitted in these suits. Many believe, including Polyakov, that the suit will help all swimmers achieve career-best times, national and world records.

From February, when Speedo introduced the LZR Racer to the elite swimming world, through April, 37 world records have been shattered – 35 of them by athletes wearing the suit that Speedo spent more than three years and millions of dollars designing.

The two swimmers who were not wearing the new Speedo suit when they broke records were wearing the Powerskin R-Evolution, made by Arena, a swimsuit company in Italy.

The revolutionary Speedo suit has also touched off controversy among swimsuit manufacturers and other countries. Italian coach Alberto Castagnetti called it “technological doping.” Others have called it “drugs on a hanger.”

After the suits made their debut and the records started falling, U.S. national team coach Mark Schubert told reporters, “I would strongly advise them to wear the suit at the trials or they may end up at home watching the Olympics on NBC.”

Schubert said that USA Swimming, the sport’s national governing body, will not tell athletes what suit to wear at the trials or the Olympics. However, Speedo is a sponsor of USA Swimming.

Schubert added that he wouldn’t be surprised “to see every swimming world record broken at the Games.”

U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte of Daytona Beach, who set four world short-course records in Manchester, England wearing the suit, said the LZR made him “feel like I’m sort of an action hero, ready to take on the world.”

Said Australian Olympian Grant Hackett: “It is the biggest evolution in the sport in terms of swim wear.”

Coral Springs Swim Club coach Michael Lohberg, a former German national coach and five-time Olympic coach for various countries, trains Polyakov, Torres and several other Olympians and Olympic hopefuls.

“I don’t think it’s going to ruin swimming, it will just shift the focus and attention to a different area,” Lohberg said. “You can bet that Adidas and every other swimsuit company will match this. Adidas has the funds to do it. It may kill the smaller companies but if the larger companies set their mind to match it, they will because they have unlimited resources.”

Friction

The LZR Racer has led to lawsuits and allegations (at press time the lawsuits were still ongoing). Some claim that Speedo manufacturers and marketing have created an unfair advantage over other swimmers and swimsuit companies.

California-based TYR Sport went to Federal court alleging that Speedo “conspired” with USA Swimming to attract top U.S. swimmers away from other companies. TYR said Speedo violated antitrust laws by making deals with Schubert to promote the advantages of wearing the LZR suit.

Castagnetti, whose national team wears Arena swimsuits, said anyone who wears the LZR Racer is “cheating.”

TYR meanwhile unveiled its new Tracer Rise suit, a challenger to the much-hyped Speedo suit, at the French Olympic trials.

Several other rival companies including Arena, Mizuno, Nike, Adidas and Diana, another Italian manufacturer, are trying to come up with similar prototypes before the Olympic Games. It will be hard to duplicate, however.

What makes these suits so special?

According to Speedo, there are several factors that turn the suit into a record-breaker.

• It uses laser-bonded seams instead of stitched ones, with low-drag panels at points where water flow is greatest. The panels are made from extremely thin polyurethane membrane. Even the zipper is bonded into the suit to minimize drag.

• The suit compresses the swimmer’s body so it’s more streamlined and smoother in shape. There is a compression zone around the torso that keeps a corset-like grip on swimmers, helping them to hold their form when fatigued. The compression also reduces muscle movement and skin vibration, which aids efficiency through the water.

• Compared to its 2007 high-efficiency model, Speedo claims that the LZR Racer is four percent faster in starts, sprints and turns with five percent less drag.

• It resists chlorine and overstretching and dries faster than any racing suit Speedo has made.

“There were so many challenges in creating this suit,” said Speedo vice president Stu Isaac. “As opposed to using fabrics that already existed and using them in new ways, we had to create the fabric to our specs and find somebody who could do this incredibly fine fiber, and weave it into one of the highest densities in stitch count per square inch of any fabric in the world.”

A team of researchers, designers, athletes and coaches were involved with creating and testing the suit. NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia participated in the surface drag testing of more than 60 types of fabric. Then there was the water flume testing and fluid dynamics analysis. Researchers also conducted three-dimensional body scanning of more than 400 elite athletes to learn more about the precise shape of swimmers' bodies and their movements.

The suit costs $250 to $550 depending on the model and will not be available to the general public until October. Swim clubs and coaches under contract with Speedo will get them at a discount price.

The suits have already been approved by FINA, the sport’s international governing body. FINA states that swimsuits must be made of “regular flat fabrics” and “no outside applications shall be added.” Throughout the various phases of the suit’s development, FINA was repeatedly asked for approval. Still, there were those who argued that the low-drag panels incorporated in the suit make them illegal.

In an emergency meeting called during the world short-course championships in Manchester, England, FINA officials said that the rules do not limit the fabrics used in swimsuits. They said as long as a suit does not improve buoyancy, it’s legal.

The LZR suit creates a feeling of improved buoyancy but researchers said that it's an illusion, and they do not actually improve buoyancy.

FINA’s decision has prompted several swimsuit companies to design similar high-tech suits. A special meeting for early June was called by FINA to review the new swimsuits.

The final chance for any new swimsuits to be approved before the August Beijing Games will be at FINA’s regularly scheduled meeting on June 30.

Dara Torres

Four-time Olympian Dara Torres proved to herself and her coaches at a tune-up swim meet in Texas that she is well on course towards making history at the June 29-July 6 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.

Torres, 41, was 3/100ths of a second off her American record (24.53) in the 50-meter freestyle at the Texas A&M Senior Circuit meet in May. She won with 24.56 in her first meet since shoulder and knee surgeries earlier this year.

However, her preliminary and final times weren’t official, according to her Coral Springs Swim Club coach Michael Lohberg. He was notified during a coaches meeting that the Student Rec. Center Natatorium pool is two and a half centimeters short.

Lohberg said the embarrassing gaff was discovered after a swimmer broke a Masters backstroke record and officials had to certify the record by measuring the pool. They discovered then that the bulkhead had moved forward two and a half centimeters.

For Torres, who wore the Speedo LZR racer, and her coach, the times were irrelevant. She just wanted to see if she could swim fast and feel good in the water in the suit, Lohberg said.
“I feel great… this is the best I’ve felt since before the 2000 Olympics as far as injuries and everything else,” said Torres, who lives in Parkland, Florida. “I have no pain at all. I am very excited.

“I don’t think the suit is controversial,” Torres continued. “How can you say that when every few years they improve the suit somehow? The number of world records broken in that suit is crazy, but that’s a crazy good. Records are meant to be broken. I’m allowed to wear it and I am going to wear it. We will see what happens.”

Twenty-four years after her first Olympic Games, Torres is now on pace to make her fifth Olympic team. At age 41, she would be the oldest swimmer and the first mother to make the U.S. swim team.

She is also one of 12 elite athletes who are voluntarily participating in the Un-Dirty Dozen, an unprecedented U.S. Anti-Doping Agency testing program designed to prove to the public that not all elite athletes are dirty.

"You can DNA test me, blood test me, urine test me,” Torres said. “I'm an open book. Just test me so I can show people I'm doing this the right way."

Her daughter Tessa Grace Torres-Hoffman, now 2, was the impetus for Torres to get back into the water after giving birth. Between her own daily workouts leading up to the trials, she is now giving her daughter swim lessons.

"This is a big challenge for me," Torres said. "And I'm hoping that I can pave the way for other athletes or even everyday people who think they're too old to do something that they really want to do. You can’t put an age on your dreams."