Swimming

[CL]

I thought the panels were used to reduce the coefficent of friction with the water??

Something similar to the way a sharks skin reduces the turbulence created when the water flows over the skin

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olym...ng/7342129.stm

having read the above it appears Mr Staggers comment about muscle fatigue also seems correct

Ok I'll pretend to take this seriously. Let's assume the suit has less friction than shaved human skin. Even if that was the case, the difference is hardly going to make much difference.This difference is then offset by the fact that the suit material requires energy to stretch during movement.

I don't know of a single material in the world that returns more or an equal amount of energy when contracting, than when initially stretched.

[CL]

Are you saying then that now, if world or olympic records are broken, its all down to drugs? Remember Mark Spitz had a Village People mastauche which would have caused serious drag - swimmers don't have those anymore and its making for faster times.

Not all Stolly. They still train hard, but they gain tremendously from taking drugs. The difference in physique between modern swimmers and a Spitz is striking.

The swimmers of today look like giant weightlifters and I don't think naturally trained swimmers should look like that.

[Calf]

of course you'll never get the energy required to stretch the suit back, nothing is 100% efficent.
However swimming IS about being streamlined. Water is what about 800 times denser than air. I believe sharks skin isn't flat it has small ribs which reduce the growth of small eddies near to lower speed boundary layers of the water hence reducing the friction. They use this kind of thing on sail boats and planes. A 5% reduction in drag is a massive advantage in the water.

Also if you look at the records that are being broken since the introduction of the suit Ie all this year
either a large number of swimmers in different disciplines from different countries have all discovered a new go faster drug which wasn't around last year and the authorities know nothing about
Or the swim suits have made a difference??????

[CL]

If the former olympic champion thinks things are bad. Mind you even he was implicated at one point.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/othe...ts/1456264.stm

[Calf]

am not saying there isn't drugs in the sport.
Just that it seems odd that suddenly in the last 8 months a large number of records are falling and I can't believe people have only started doping in the last 8 months.

[Mud]

However swimming IS about being streamlined. Water is what about 800 times denser than air. I believe sharks skin isn't flat it has small ribs which reduce the growth of small eddies near to lower speed boundary layers of the water hence reducing the friction. They use this kind of thing on sail boats and planes. A 5% reduction in drag is a massive advantage in the water.

I'm going swimming at lunchtime, so I'm going to experiment by fully wrapping myself in gaffer tape.

When I remove the tape after swimming, this will also deal with my cycling dilemma of whether or not to shave my legs.

[Calf]

carefull where you gaffer up thou

[CL]

of course you'll never get the energy required to stretch the suit back, nothing is 100% efficent.
However swimming IS about being streamlined. Water is what about 800 times denser than air. I believe sharks skin isn't flat it has small ribs which reduce the growth of small eddies near to lower speed boundary layers of the water hence reducing the friction. They use this kind of thing on sail boats and planes. A 5% reduction in drag is a massive advantage in the water.

Also if you look at the records that are being broken since the introduction of the suit Ie all this year
either a large number of swimmers in different disciplines from different countries have all discovered a new go faster drug which wasn't around last year and the authorities know nothing about
Or the swim suits have made a difference??????

Hang on a minute the guy who broke the breaststroke record wasn't wearing the full suit.

You also make the mistake in assuming doping practises and drug testing are consistent from one year to the next.

[CL]

I'm going swimming at lunchtime, so I'm going to experiment by fully wrapping myself in gaffer tape.

When I remove the tape after swimming, this will also deal with my cycling dilemma of whether or not to shave my legs.

Mud where have you been?

[Ady In Accy]

I read somewhere before the olympics that the Chinese team wanted to use Mizuno suits but they could not hit the same times as the Speedo ones so where allowed to change. Just as with cycle time trialing, much effort has been put into studying streamlining in the water and food/substance intake to get the best performance possible. I am always amazed when, not just swimming records go, but many other WR's are broken year on year. I find it hard to believe that the drugs are getting that much better year on year but the technology going into the suits has been a big step forward in pushing the times down.