Perhaps not everyone knows that there have been polyurethane swimsuits for competitive swimming LZR Racerwhich they were bandits because they broke so many records that they were eventually considered “technological doping”.
The story begins at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The audience holds their breath, the swimmers are on the starting blocks, the race starts… and the scoreboard lights up: new world record. Not once, but dozens and dozens of times. In less than two years, they are knocked out in swimming more than 130 world recordsa phenomenon never seen in the history of sport. And the question everyone asked was: ‘but have athletes really suddenly become stronger?‘. No, they hadn’t changed, they had changed costumes. They were produced LZR Racercostumes designed in collaboration with the NASA which combined a technical fabric such as nylon with panels of polyurethane and they were able to compress the body, decrease friction and control the flow of water. These “doping” characteristics led to “supersuits” being banned by FINA (International Swimming Federation) in 2010, causing the number of new records to collapse.
The history of polyurethane costumes tells us that sport does not only live on training and talent, but also on research and technology. An innovation that transformed swimming and taught us that, sometimes, it is not man who moves the boundaries of sport… but materials science.
The LZR Racer polyurethane costumes and then banned: the hidden revolution
Until then, swimming costumes were similar to each other: a technical fabric like Nylon, elastic and close-fitting to the body, but without major innovations. Then, shortly before the Beijing Olympics, the English company Speedo presents a completely different costume developed in collaboration with NASA: the LZR Racer.
At first sight it looked like a traditional one-piece swimsuit, but inside it hid a real one revolution of materials. It had as its base a fabric composed of elastomer and nylon. Thin ones were added to this structure polyurethane panelsheat-sealed in targeted points, to improve smoothness in the water and increase compression on the body.
Here the experience of the came into play NASA: The same fluid dynamics skills used to optimize airplanes and spacecraft were applied to swimming. The fabrics were tested in a wind tunnel to understand which ones offered less resistance, and the most flowable materials were chosen. Even the seams were redesigned: no longer needle and thread, but ultrasonic fused joints, designed to eliminate any discontinuity that could slow down progress in the water. Every detail was thought out to minimize the dragthat is, the resistance of water on the body. This collaboration between space science and sport transformed the swimsuit into much more than just a piece of clothing: a little space rocket for swimming.
The result? A leap forward in performance never seen before. The clocks go crazy: in two years, more than 130 world records they are rewritten. Let’s talk about huge improvements: instead of a few tenths of difference, the chronometers showed progress of whole seconds. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we see incredible times: Michael Phelps scores 8 golds with legendary performances, Federica Pellegrini she becomes the first woman under 1’55” in the 200 m freestyle, a record that was adjusted the following year and destined to last 14 years. But not only that: the times of Men’s 50m and 200m freestyle scored in 2009 I am still undefeated.
Why the LZR Racer Customs worked so well
The ‘miraculous’ costumes of 2008 did not just represent an aesthetic change: they substantially increased the speed of the swimmers. Studies estimate that the full-bodies introduced in 2000 gave approx 1% advantage over the previous oneswhile polyurethane costumes reached up to 5.5%. A huge difference, especially in the shorter races.
But why were they so fast?
- Body compression: the high rigidity of the costumes compressed the bodyreducing its surface area exposed to water. A more aligned and narrower body means less hydrodynamic resistance. Imagine squeezing a pillow into a small pillowcase: it becomes thinner and the water encounters less surface area to push away.
- Friction reduction: polyurethane has a lot of surface area smoother of traditional fabrics. This allows the suit to slide better, kind of like skating on smooth ice instead of rough ice. The result? The water offers less resistance and the speed increases.
- Water flow control: normally, when the water flows over the body, at a certain point it breaks away, creating turbulence behind the swimmer, a sort of “wake” that slows down. The swimsuits helped the water stick to the body longer, reducing these turbulences.
A perfect mix of physics and materials engineering. In the sprint (50–100 m) the advantages were enormous, because at higher speeds the resistance of the water increases greatly. In long racesHowever, the rigid costume could become uncomfortable: it was constricting, limited movement and tired the muscles, guaranteeing a reduced or even canceled advantage in cross-country distances.
Polyurethane costumes were banned by FINA: technological doping
Not all swimmers had access to those models, and soon the press was talking about “doping technologicalAfter the 2009 World Cup in Rome, the END (International Swimming Federation) intervened: since 2010 they were prohibited polyurethane costumes. Since then, athletes can only use fabric costumes, from waist to knee for men and from shoulder to knee for women. A necessary choice to bring swimming back to athletes and not to technology. And in fact, after the restriction, the number of records suddenly collapsed.
