space-age swimsuit

Some have called it a technological breakthrough, others simply an elaborate publicity stunt, but a controversial space-age swimsuit has gripped the swimming world.

A host of world records has been toppled in the last eight weeks -- 36 as of Sunday -- by swimmers wearing the high-tech LZR Racer bodysuit, which manufacturer Speedo claims can carve as much as two per cent off race times.

But the LZR, developed with the help of U.S. space agency NASA, has plunged the sport into uncharted waters, with swimmers breaching lucrative kit contracts to wear it and rows over the legality of the materials used.
Speedo say the LZR aids streamlining and reduces skin vibration and muscle oscillation, but critics say use of the suit is tantamount to "technological doping" and should never have been approved.