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Tuesday July 29, 2008

China’s elite swimmers tread water over high-tech swimsuit

BEIJING: China’s elite swimmers are undecided about whether to switch to a new high-tech swimsuit after the team bosses gave the go-ahead to use the record-smashing Speedo suit, state press reported yesterday.

Speedo’s new LZR Racer has taken swimming by storm, playing a role in 44 of the 48 short- and long-course records set this year.

“Swimmers will wear the suits that they feel most comfortable with in the Olympics. It’s hard to say whether it is Speedo LZR Racer or not,” said Zhang Yadong, head coach of the Chinese national swimming team.

“It is not that we are switching suits. We just agreed to allow swimmers to choose their own suits,” Yadong said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The Chinese team, who ended their deal with Speedo after the 2004 Athens Games and switched to current sponsor Nike, were supposed to wear the Nike Swift suits at the Olympics, the report said.

Nike has since announced that it will allow its sponsored swimmers to don their favourite suits, but it is unclear if the Chinese team will all choose to do so, the report said.

“We appreciate Nike’s support,” Yadong said, adding that Chinese swimmers wearing the Nike suits broke several national records at the Olympic trials in April.

Xu Yanwei, who will compete in the 100m butterfly at the Olympics, said she did not feel much difference wearing Speedo, Xinhua said.

Speedo said the suit, developed in association with US space agency NASA, is made with a high-technology fabric that keeps swimmers in a corset-like grip and helps maintain the best body position in the water for a longer period.

The Olympic swimming events begin on Aug 9. – AFP

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