Matters Olympics - do you know that the female swim suits cost £450

[malaise]

That's what the JOA paid for Alia Atkinson's state of the art swim suit.

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. So what's State of the Art these days? n/t

[malaise]

2. Everyone in the pool wore something like this

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. You know what is funny? Leave the advanced materials

Watch this.



That is what I find so damn funny.

And yes, the new advanced materials, and SHAVING every hair earn then tenths of a second in the pool

[malaise]

7. I had the same thought - they look like swimsuits from a century ago

although you pointed out the advanced material aspect of the new ones.
We think the investment in swimming is worth it because we want more people to swim for their own safety.

[Egalitarian Thug]

6. Some kind of super slippery polymer material? n/t

[xmas74]

4. When my kid swam in a regional league

(not on this level, not by any means) practice suits were well over $100 and team suits between $150-200. This was for a ten year old.

A good suit in 2008 was running around $1500. The prices have actually come down on the body suits.

[malaise]

8. Wow!

Sports is not cheap

[xmas74]

11. A competitive suit isn't made the same way.

It's a much tighter weave, lots of Lycra, etc.

You never, ever wash the suits. You only rinse them in cold water and let them drip dry. Any wringing and you'll stretch it out. Soaps can damage the fabric.

A competitive suit is an investment. Even the caps are an investment. A practice cap will run you around $20, a team cap between $25-40. And you'd better have a few of them with you because they can tear.

[Honeycombe8]

5. They're probably custom made for ea. person, made to some regulation...

and are made of the best materials shown to be fast in the water, etc. Pro stuff is costly. And labor for custom making them is expensive (unless they were made in China).

[xmas74]

12. On that level,

measurements are taken. I know-we used to have the catalogs at home for them. A teammate of my daughter's has a couple-she swims AA times and I wouldn't be surprised to see her compete in 2016. My child, otoh, has dropped the sport, wanting to now focus on volleyball.

Volleyball is much, much cheaper on the bank account.

[Motown_Johnny]

9. .

http://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2008/ch_4.html

^snip^

Space Age Swimsuit Reduces Drag, Breaks Records


Originating Technology/NASA Contribution


NASA helped Speedo reduce viscous drag in the new LZR Racer by performing surface drag testing and applying expertise in the area of fluid dynamics.
A space shuttle and a competitive swimmer have a lot more in common than people might realize: Among other forces, both have to contend with the slowing influence of drag. NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate focuses primarily on improving flight efficiency and generally on fluid dynamics, especially the forces of pressure and viscous drag, which are the same for bodies moving through air as for bodies moving through water. Viscous drag is the force of friction that slows down a moving object through a substance, like air or water.

NASA uses wind tunnels for fluid dynamics research, studying the forces of friction in gasses and liquids. Pressure forces, according to Langley Research Center’s Stephen Wilkinson, “dictate the optimal shape and performance of an airplane or other aero/hydro-dynamic body.” In both high-speed flight and swimming, says Wilkinson, a thin boundary layer of reduced velocity fluid surrounds the moving body; this layer is about 2 centimeters thick for a swimmer.

[malaise]

10. Thanks