High-tech swimsuits to keep records tumbling - expert

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — New space-age swimsuits are the likely secret behind a recent spate of record-shattering swimming performances in the lead-up to this year's Beijing Olympic Games, researchers say.

Professor Jean-Francois Toussaint, author of a respected study on the limits of human physiology, recently had to update his statistics after a series of 33 records tumbled in world pools, mostly thanks to the best swimmers choosing the new Speedo LZR racer.

"The suit allows gains of about two percent from previously fixed values, therefore it is possible to imagine the 100-metres freestyle could be swum in 46 seconds, or 50 metres in 20.5 seconds," Toussaint said.

In a study based on his calculation of a progression of records in the past century, which was...