Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Lasting Images from Beijing - Part 19


Given the anticipated heat, humidity and smog levels in Beijing in August, and the tremendous pace that the swimmers will be maintaining for two hours during the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, it will be very interesting to see what swim suits the open water swimmers will use at the Olympics.

As is well-documented, the new high-tech suits not only compress the body, but they also retain body heat extraordinarily well. In a 100-meter freestyle or a 200-meter butterfly in a pool in a well-ventilated air-conditioned facility, these suits have obvious significant benefits.

In the open water event, a two-hour race under high-humidity, high-heat and high-smog conditions held outdoors, the compression and increased body heat may require some athletes to hydrate more often and in greater amounts. Just a guess.

To date, FINA has approved the following suits:

1. TYR Tracer
2. Speedo LZR
3. blueSeventy Pointzero3
4. blueSeventy 3+
5. blueSeventy Nero 10k (openwater)
6. blueSeventy Nero Comp (pool)
7. XTERRA Velocity .02

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association

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