KEY POINTS:
Even the Kiwi scientist behind the controversial new Speedo swimsuit is floored by its success.
A revolutionary combination of lycra and polyurethane, the suit has been worn in 13 world-record-breaking swims in the past month.
At New Zealand's Olympic qualifying event in Henderson, finishing tomorrow, seven of the
country's biggest swimming stars are sporting the new super-togs, designed in part at Otago University.
Otago University scientist David Pease, one of the main brains behind the swimsuit's design, told the Weekend Herald he felt content after three records fell.
"I would have been happy with that until the Olympics. Now it's 13. It's just unbelievable."
Working at the university's flume (think wind tunnel, but using water instead of air), he spent hundreds of hours testing different designs and compositions of the suit. Videos of swimmers in action wearing different combinations were analysed.
The suit's distinguishing features are the panels on its front and the "corset" around its middle.
The panels are made from a type of polyurethane so smooth its drag is almost identical to that of polished steel. They are placed in areas where the suit encounters the most friction through the water.
The "corset" has two functions. Most importantly, it kept what Mr Pease called the swimmers' "wobbly bits" from creating too much drag.
"When you look at these swimmers on the underwater cameras, no matter how lean they are, their skin starts to pile up around the bum and upper thigh."
That created drag which the "corset" eliminated, he said.
It also kept the centre of the body rigid, he said. When swimmers tired, their body stiffness slackened and their speed dropped. With midriffs kept rigid, the swimmers were able to expend more energy on going fast, and less on maintaining their posture.
The suit is also effectively seamless - the joins are described as being more welded than stitched.
It is also light - at less than 100g it is the lightest suit Speedo has made. The suit creates 5 per cent less drag than its predecessor, and 10 per cent less than the Speedo suits worn at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Those percentages translated to between 0.05 and 0.5 seconds in saved time each race, New Zealand swimming star Dean Kent said. That alone meant a competitive swimmer would be silly not to wear the suit.
"But a lot of it is about the fit, about how it feels on you," Kent said.
He warned against seeing swimsuits as the deciding factor in world-class swimming races.
"It contributes only as much as you let it. You still have to do all the work, all the training ... to put the best performance into the swim, for the suit to help."
World-class swimmers spent more than 30 hours training each week, he said.
"Swimming is your life. Swimmers can't go out on weekends. Everything I want to do with my fiancee, I have to look and see if it's going to affect my next week's training, or my next competition. The suit is fantastic, but it's not magic."
Swimming team head coach Jan Cameron said technology was always improving sporting performances, and the suit would be just one of many innovations unveiled at the games.
The Beijing pool, at a constant depth of 3m, was deeper, and therefore quicker, than New Zealand pools.
The starting boxes were a new design, as were the lane ropes, giving swimmers with a chance to experience those changes a distinct advantage.
But the tumbling records of late were probably a result of the world's best swimmers competing hard while in the new suits, Cameron said.
"They are being given to the people who are going fast. But they're not going fast just because of the suits, I can assure you. That's just rubbish.
"The fast swimmers go fast, and they're going to try and use every piece of technology available to them."
STAR CAST
New Zealand swimmers wearing the new suits at the Olympic qualifying event in Henderson:
* Melissa Ingram
* Liz Coster
* Glenn Snyders
* Corney Swanepoel
* Dean Kent
* Moss Burmester
* Helen Norfolk
CASH CRISIS THREATENS SWIMSUIT TEST FACILITY
The testing facility used for the world's most advanced swimsuits is losing money and will probably close by the end of the year.
The Otago University flume - the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere - played a major role in the development and testing of the latest Speedo swimsuit, worn by seven of New Zealand's best swimmers and involved in 13 world-record swims in the past six weeks.
Otago University scientist David Pease, one of the leaders of the new suit's development, said the flume was regarded as the world's best.
Speedo scoured similar facilities all over the world before choosing to use the Dunedin flume, but despite the attention the flume has got from media since the new suit's launch, getting more business was proving to be an issue, Mr Pease said.
"The flume is under financial pressure. If things don't change, it will be decommissioned at the end of the year."
