Perhaps not everyone knows that there were polyurethane swimsuits for competitive swimming, the LZR Racer, which were banned because they broke so many records that they were eventually considered “technological doping”.
The story begins at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The audience holds their breath, the swimmers are on the starting blocks, the race starts… and the scoreboard lights up: new world record. Not once, but dozens and dozens of times. In less than two years, more than 130 world records were broken in swimming, a phenomenon never seen before in the history of sport. And the question everyone asked was: ‘but have athletes really suddenly become stronger?‘. No, they hadn’t changed, the customs had changed. The LZR Racer was produced, costumes designed in collaboration with NASA which combined a technical fabric such as nylon with polyurethane panels and were able to compress the body, reduce friction and control the flow of water. These “doping” characteristics led to “supersuits” being banned by FINA (International Swimming Federation) in 2010, causing the number of new records to collapse.
The history of polyurethane costumes tells us that sport does not only live on training and talent, but also on research and technology. An innovation that transformed swimming and taught us that, sometimes, it is not man who moves the boundaries of sport… but the science of materials.
The LZR Racer polyurethane costumes and then banned: the hidden revolution
Until then, swimming costumes were similar to each other: a technical fabric like Nylon, elastic and close-fitting to the body, but without major innovations. Then, just before the Beijing Olympics, the English company Speedo presents a completely different suit developed in collaboration with NASA: the LZR Racer.
At first sight it looked like a traditional one-piece swimsuit, but inside it hid a real revolution in materials. It had as its base a fabric composed of elastomer and nylon. Thin polyurethane panels were added to this structure, heat-sealed in targeted points, to improve smoothness in the water and increase compression on the body.
Here NASA’s experience came into play: the same fluid dynamics skills used to optimize airplanes and spacecraft were applied to swimming. The fabrics were tested in a wind tunnel to understand which ones offered less resistance, and the most flowable materials were chosen. Even the seams were redesigned: no longer needle and thread, but ultrasonic fused joints, designed to eliminate any discontinuity that could slow down progress in the water. Every detail was designed to minimize drag, i.e. the resistance of the water on the body. This collaboration between space science and sport transformed the swimsuit into much more than just a piece of clothing: a little space rocket for swimming.
The result? A leap forward in performance never seen before. The clocks go crazy: in two years, more than 130 world records are rewritten. We are talking about enormous improvements: instead of a few tenths of difference, the chronometers showed progress of whole seconds. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, we see incredible times: Michael Phelps scores 8 gold medals with legendary performances, Federica Pellegrini becomes the first woman under 1’55” in the 200 m freestyle, a record adjusted the following year and destined to last 14 years. But not only that: the men’s 50m and 200m freestyle times recorded in 2009 are still unbeaten.
Why the LZR Racer Customs worked so well
The ‘miracle’ suits of 2008 weren’t just an aesthetic change: they substantially increased swimmers’ speed. Studies estimate that the full-bodysuits introduced in 2000 gave about 1% advantage over the previous ones, while the polyurethane costumes reached up to 5.5%. A huge difference, especially in the shorter races.
But why were they so fast?
- Body compression: the high rigidity of the costumes compressed the body, reducing the surface area exposed to water. A more aligned and narrower body means less hydrodynamic resistance. Imagine squeezing a pillow into a small pillowcase: it becomes thinner and the water encounters less surface area to push away.
- Friction Reduction: Polyurethane has a much smoother surface than traditional fabrics. This allows the suit to slide better, kind of like skating on smooth ice instead of rough ice. The result? The water offers less resistance and the speed increases.
- Control of the flow of water: normally, when the water flows over the body, at a certain point it breaks away, creating turbulence behind the swimmer, a sort of “wake” that brakes. The suits helped the water stick to the body longer, reducing this turbulence.
A perfect mix of physics and materials engineering. In sprints (50–100 m) the advantages were enormous, because at higher speeds the water resistance increases significantly. In long races, however, the rigid costume could become uncomfortable: it was constricting, limited movement and tired the muscles, guaranteeing a reduced or even canceled advantage in cross-country distances.
Polyurethane costumes were banned by FINA: technological doping
Not all swimmers had access to those models, and soon the press was talking about “doping technologicalAfter the World Championships in Rome 2009, FINA (International Swimming Federation) intervened: from 2010 polyurethane costumes were banned. Since then, athletes can only use fabric costumes, from waist to knee for men and from shoulder to knee for women. A necessary choice to bring swimming back to athletes and not to technology. And in fact, after the restriction, the number of records suddenly collapsed.
