In February 2008, the sport of swimming changed dramatically with the introduction of the Speedo LZR racing suit. The LZR incorporated advanced technology to make swimmers faster, including water repulsion, hydrodynamic body positioning and ultrasonically welded seams to reduce drag. The suit was phenomenally successful: at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, 94% of all swimming races were won by swimmers wearing the LZR.
Naturally, such a radical innovation attracted criticism fairly quickly. As swimmers wearing the suit piled up wins and medals, competitors and national federations who had contracts with other manufacturers protested that they were being put at an unfair competitive disadvantage. FINA, the sport’s governing body, eventually chose to ban this “technological doping.” Starting this January, all body-length swimsuits like the LZR are not allowed in FINA competition (the ban also extends to NCAA competitions). With this decision, FINA agreed that the suits were not in the spirit of the sport, which is “essentially based on the physical performance of the athlete.”
Of course, controversy still swirls over the outrageous number of world records broken by swimmers in the LZR and similar suits. Swimmers in the suit have broken over a hundred world records since its introduction (some have been broken multiple times). At the Beijing Olympics, some swimmers broke world records without winning a medal. This fact has led to some demand more than merely banning the suits in future competitions, but also removing the records set wearing the high-tech suits.
This course of action is the only one that can fully erase the damage done to swimming by the LZR. The purpose of world records is not merely to glorify individual athletes, but to show how each successive generation can push the limits of human potential and ability.
Of course, athletes are aided in this process by science and technology, with better training regimens and nutrition. However, when the athletes compete it is only their own ability and hard work that should be on display—the suits give a significant artificial enhancement that cannot be ignored.
Indeed, the FINA record books have become laughable, with new records being set at an alarming pace prior to the LZR’s banning. World records are kept in 20 events for both men and women (so a total of 40 records exist). Out of these 40, only the men’s and women’s records in the 1500-meter freestyle have not been broken since the start of the Beijing Olympics last August—and that’s only because the 1500 free is the “marathon of swimming,” where individual conditioning and stamina counts for much more than in any other event.
If we include short course pools (which are 25 meters long, half the length of Olympic size but for which separate world records are kept), 41 out of 42 records have fallen since the LZR’s introduction, the only exception being the men’s 1500 free.
The sheer volume of new records is an argument in itself for amending the record books—even if the new records are allowed to stand, it is absolutely necessary for separate pre and post-LZR records to be recognized.
We can find even more persuasion when we compare this question to other sports. I’ve chosen two that seem especially relevant: baseball and track, which have both been rocked by numerous steroid scandals and allegations. The only difference between using steroids or other drugs and using the racing suits is the fact that the drugs are illegal under American law. The goal of both methods is similar: to gain an edge over the competition, or to keep up with athletes who have already “doped.”
In baseball, many people agree that the numbers from the Steroid Era are tainted and should be thrown out. Most controversial are the records of Barry Bonds, who holds two of the sport’s most hallowed marks, the season and career home run crowns. While the records would most likely be taken away (or at least “asterisked”) were the steroid allegations against Bonds proven correct, the records must stand without conclusive proof that Bonds took steroids. Swimming doesn’t face this problem: it was fairly clear who was using the suits and who wasn’t just on the basis of watching a race.
Track has also dealt with a lot of steroid issues, but has taken a strong and principled stand against steroid use in the sport. When prominent athletes were proven to have taken drugs, the sport’s governing body took decisive action, stripping the relevant athletes of any trophies, medals, or world records they might hold. This policy also made the sport more exciting, as one could watch knowing that Usain Bolt’s record-breaking performances were the result of sheer ability and strength, not something cooked up in a lab. Bolt truly pushed the limits of the human body—the LZR allowed swimmers to seem like they were without actually doing so.
Changing the records to strip out the LZR’s influence would have one significant drawback: it would unfairly deprive many athletes of world records they have set, some who undoubtedly would have done so even without technologically doping. However, we must weigh the integrity of an entire sport more heavily than the concerns of these athletes. Just because the suits were widely used, it does not diminish their potency. We will never be able to compare this generation of racers with those of the past, because they had an unfair technological advantage over their predecessors.
Without action by FINA to change the record books to (ideally) wipe out the LZR records or (at the very least) to have a separate set of technologically enhanced records, the future integrity and viability of swimming as a sport will be compromised. Just as baseball now lives in the shadow of the Steroid Era, so too might swimming one day be tainted by the “LZR Era,” where athletes won contests and broke records not because of their own ability, but because of some nicely welded seams.