High-tech swimwear features special paints to increase buoyancy by 30%

As the track and field competitions of the successive Olympic Games after the gold medals, the Olympic Games swimming pool has always been a contestable spot for all countries. To achieve the top 10 appearances on the medals table, it is important to obtain good results in swimming events that can determine 34 gold medals.

However, in today's world of short-range swimming pooled by masters, the technology gap between the top players is negligible, and technology can no longer be the key to determining the outcome of the game. Therefore, in order to obtain better results, technicians from various countries began to make a fuss on swimwear. How to make swimsuits to minimize the friction with the water flow, reduce the weight, and increase the elasticity is an ever-present task for athletes and technicians in various countries.

Sprouts As early as the 1980s, the figure of high-tech swimwear was already available on the field. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the “Hercules” swimsuit used by the US team was the first generation of high-tech swimwear. The material of polyurethane fiber and ultra-fine nylon fiber not only reduced the weight of the swimsuit, but also achieved two-way stretchability and overall smoothness. The perfect degree. With the help of "Hercules," U.S. swimmer will get Matt Biandi 5 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze, and break the 50m freestyle world record; the U.S. team is also in the 4x100m freestyle, medley relay, 4x200m. Free swimming relay and other projects broke the world record.

Then, Speedo, the world's leading manufacturer of high-tech swimwear, had three major innovations in the development of swimwear fabrics: the S2000, the world's first fabric specifically designed for high-speed swimwear; the appearance of anti-chlorinated fabrics that solved traditional nylon The problem of water fading in water; water blade is another kind of fabric designed for competitive sports that can increase swimming speed.

The direct result of the increasing number of high-tech bathing suits is the continuous breaking of world records. From 1996 to 2000, the advanced “waterblade” swimwear broke the world record of 10 men and 12 women's short-distance swimming programs. The men’s performance was increased by nearly 6 seconds (400-meter freestyle), and the women’s performance was also improved. Raise for nearly 4 seconds (200m breaststroke).

Brilliant in 1996, the “waterblade” demonstrated his growing awareness of the importance of high-tech swimwear for athletes. The Speedboat Company launched the first "FastSkin" swimsuit that wrapped the athlete's body in 2000.

This sharkskin swimsuit is a bathing suit that mimics the skin bionics principle of sharks. It is alleged that the rough surface of the shark's skin with V-shaped folds can greatly reduce the friction of the water flow, allowing the water flow around the body to flow more efficiently and the sharks can swim quickly. According to this principle, sharkskin swim suits imitate human tendons at the seams, providing power for athletes to draw water backwards, imitates human skin on cloth, and is elastic; at the same time, swimsuits are three-dimensionally designed based on laser measurement of athletes' physical data. Made of non-hydrophilic Teflon fibres, the athletes pack from the neck to wrists and ankles. Experiments have shown that wearing this swimsuit swim can help the player reduce the water resistance by 3%. Reducing the resistance by 3%, which has extraordinary significance in determining the winning and losing swimming competition in one thousandth of a second.

At the 2000 Olympics in Athens, Australian swimmer Thorpe won 3 gold, 2 silver with excellent sharkskin swimsuits and broke the world record for 400m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle relay. At the Olympic Games, 83% of the players wearing this sharkskin swimsuit won medals and broke the 13/15 world record.

The great success of the first generation of sharkskin made the second and third generations of research and development right. The outstanding performance of the second and third generations did not disappoint.

With the help of high-performance sharkskin swimsuits, the world record became vulnerable. From 2000 to 2008, in eight years, 35 world records were broken for the women's short-distance swimming project alone, and an average of 4.3 records were broken each year. On the men's short-range projects, the world record was even more unbearable. In one hit, there were 60 world records that were broken, breaking the world record of 7.4 a year on average! At the same time, the increase in the score of the game is even more striking. Among the men's events, the most significant increase was in the 400-meter medley, which improved by more than 9 seconds; in the women's event, the 200-meter breaststroke improved by more than 7 seconds.

Crazy 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the fourth generation of shark skin in the Water Cube created Phelps shocked the world's eight gold myth.

The fourth generation "Sharkskin" is composed of LZRPulse fabrics that are extremely light, low-resistance, waterproof, and quick-drying. It is the world's first non-folding swimwear produced by high-tech welding. In less than four months after launch, athletes who participated in various swimming competitions in this long and ankle one-piece swim suit have created more than 40 new world records. In the 2008 Olympic Games, a total of 24 short-distance swimming world records were broken! In 2008, a total of 100 world records were broken by this little shark skin.

With amazing results, people finally began to reflect on whether swimming competitions today have become a swimsuit contest. Since the fourth-generation sharkskin uses a semi-polyurethane material with improved floating effect, FINA has issued a new regulation called "Dubai Charter" in consideration of the fairness and purity of sports. In order to regulate the swimwear used by the players in the competition, it is technically restricted to the appearance of "sharkskin" in the pool.

However, the ancient sharkskin skin did not stop high-tech swimwear from disrupting the swimming pool. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome, ArenaX-Glide and Jaged01 were popular, making the once-great glory of "Sharkskin Hideout" seem so insignificant.

The new high-tech swimwear, which contains a polyurethane component, has an important function in addition to drag reduction - an increase of about 30% in buoyancy. According to professionals, the most critical part of high-tech swimwear is polyurethane coating, which is also widely used in military applications such as the surface of submarines and ships. In addition, polyurethane swimwear is 70 times more tight than regular swimwear. In addition to helping to increase buoyancy, there are many additional features such as reduced friction, light weight, and low resistance. Moreover, putting on such high-tech swim suits can easily shape the athlete's body into a streamlined form.

At the World Championships in Rome in 2009, ArenaX-Glide and Jaged01 swimwear broke a total of 26 world records and won a total of 73 medals.

Since 2008, only two years have passed since 2010. In the men's race alone, 37 world records for short-distance swimming have been broken; more exaggerated is that in the women's competition, the number of world records that have been broken is even greater. 42! The world record is almost as weak as egg shells in front of high-tech swimwear.

Calm people finally realize that if they do not limit the use of high-tech swimwear, swimming will lose its original meaning. In the swimming pool, it seems that each swimwear brand is pursuing higher, faster, and stronger, while the player is just a carrier. FINA had to discuss and pass the decision during the World Championships and use a paper ban to completely ban athletes from wearing swimwear made of polyurethane materials in 2010.

The pace of crazy advancement in high-tech swim suits seems to have stopped. At this London Olympic Games, all swimmers will wear uniforms in sleeveless swimwear made of textile materials to participate in the competition. This move makes swimming this sport seem to have returned to its most authentic state.