Why are full body swimsuits not allowed at the Olympics?
PART of the Olympics fun is seeing what each team wears to compete, but viewers will be hard pressed to spot anyone wearing a full body swimsuit.
At the Olympics, the controversial swimming costume is actually banned. But when and why did this rule come into effect?
Why are full body swimsuits not allowed at the Olympics?
Full body swimsuits were first banned in 2010.
Before then, wearing a full bodysuit suit had been the norm since the 1996 games.
The full bodysuit covered athletes completely, except for their head, neck, hands and feet.
When suits like the LZR swimsuit began to become controversial, World Aquatics took action and banned the full bodysuits.
But the suits were not banned because of how much skin that they covered.
It was the material that the suits were made of that presented a problem.
Why was the LZR swimsuit banned?
The LZR swimsuit was particularly popular at the 2008 Beijing Games.
It had been created in a collaboration between NASA and Speedo-USA.
The suit garnered a lot of attention, when swimming legend Michael Phelps won a record 8 Gold Medals at the 2008 games.
Swimmers found that they were faster and more buoyant, because of the suit being made from 50 percent polyurethane.
This speed boost help swimmers to shatter world records and set an unprecedented 200 world records in 2008.
It was felt that this suit gave swimmers an unfair advantage, so by January 1, 2010 the LZR suit, and full bodysuits in general, were banned.
What do swimmers wear at the Olympics?
Swimmers at the Olympics must now conform to World Aquatics guidelines.
This means that they must wear textile-only fabrics and male costumes can only extend from the waist to the knees.
Since speedos and “budgie smugglers” are more common in diving, men tend to opt for “Jammers”.
“Jammers” are more form fitting and flexible than shorts, allowing male swimmers to reach greater speeds.
Women’s costumes can reach from the shoulders to the knees.
Swimming caps are often worn during training to protect hair from being damaged by the pool’s chlorine.
They are worn during competitions to reduce the drag caused by hair and enable swimmers to be as fast as possible.
It scrapes back hair to keep it out of a competitors face, so that they can swim at their best.