In post-Beijing era, the swimsuit makes the swimmer

Former Olympic champion Pieter van den Hoogenband was the fastest swimmer in the history of the world - but that was before the invention of super fast 'magic' swimsuits.

When Pieter van den Hoogenband (31) retired from swimming six months ago he thought he would be the fastest swimmer alive for many years to come. Instead, 'VdH' finished in fifth place at an Olympic event in the water cube in Beijing.

In retrospect this event was much more than the departure of one of the greatest sprinters of all times. VdH's fifth place marked a watershed, a threshold between two eras. In ordinary swim suits, many of today's champions would not even come close to the world record that VdH set in the 100-metre freestyle in Sydney in 2000. The record was untouched for almost eight years. Now, fourteen months after the appearance of the first 'magic' suit, 'VdH' is only the 26th fastes swimmer ever.

Technological doping

But the sport, his sport, had changed too much to be a true reflection of ability. Since the proliferation of performance enhancing swimsuits in the Olympic year 2008, nothing is what it seems anymore. But the opposition to this 'technological doping', as it is increasingly being called, is growing. No one believes that so many swimmers are suddenly so much better than old champions like VdH.

In a way, 2008 with its 108 world records was still manageable, since most of the progress was made in the LZR Racer suit, the invention that first plunged the swimming world into the suit crisis. But then new swimsuits came on the market that allowed swimmers to be yet another few seconds - or tenths of a second, what does it matter? - faster than last year.

The world swimming federation FINA stood by and did nothing. After protests from coaches, including Dutch coach Jacco Verhaeren, guidelines were introduced that set regulations for suits, but to date none has been banned. The results are raising more and more questions now that the swimmers have discovered all the advantages of the Jaked, the X-Glide and the BlueSeventy.

Scanning the competition

Swimmers used to have their training programme and a coach who ordered endless repetitions of the 10 x 100 metres - followed by free swimming. Nowadays, swimmers are busy scanning pictures of the swimsuits of their opponents. Swimmers and coaches would like to return to a world without these new suits - but only if everyone else does so at the same time.

"Otherwise it is as if you are going off to war with a toy pistol," says Frenchman Denis Auguin, who coaches Alain Bernard, the first to come in under Van den Hoogenband's legendary world record last year. Just like Verhaeren, Auguin wants to get rid of the polyurethane suits.

Once in a while someone still argues that nothing happens when you just throw a swimsuit in the water. “My suit doesn’t swim, I do,” Frederick Bousquet said last week at the French championships after he beat Bernard in the 100-metre freestyle wearing a Jaked, and smashed his own record by a second.

But criticism is growing in France. "This is no longer a sport. On all sides I see fish swim past me," said Hugues Duboscq, winner of three Olympic medals, but now overshadowed by unknown fellow countrymen in bodysuits. And sprinter Amaury Leveaux found it "nauseating" to see how swimmers were beating their own records by seconds. That used to require years of getting up early and training hard. "It is a disaster."

Blame FINA

The fact that swimmers are helped by their suits is so obvious that some are almost apologetic about it. Like Lennart Stekelenburg, who recently beat the 100-metre record for the fifth time in a Jaked suit he was wearing as a demonstration. He wasn't excited about this world record, he said.

That says everything about the seriousness of the crisis. Records are barely even taken seriously anymore. There is little doubt about who is responsible for the chaos: FINA. The world swimming federation seems to have completely lost its grip on the sport. The federation is having an independent testing and control system set up for suits, but that takes time.

Simply banning suits does not seem to be an option, since many suits were already approved before Beijing. A ban now could lead to enormous lawsuits from the manufacturers, who have put millions into the development and manufacturing. Moreover, the manufacturers are the most important sponsors in swimming - Speedo is an official FINA partner.

A ban would also result in practical problems. What would happens to the records that were set in 2008 and this year? There is no official record of what suit swimmers were wearing when they set these records. And they were legal at the time. But if FINA lets all the records stand, and makes everyone go back to swimming trunks, there is the chance that existing world records will remain in place for may years to come.

Allowing all suits is not an option either, because then the materials will become more important than the swimmers. Swimming, like running, used to be a sport in which it came down to a combination of technique, strength, speed and endurance. That is why a form of regulation is now being worked on, but 123 world records since February 1, 2008 is evidence that the damage has already been done.