By Nazli Thomas
While South Africa tried to ignore the saga surrounding the new Speedo LZR Racer swimming suit, it became obvious that team sponsor Arena were far behind their competitors in the design stakes and something needed to be done.
On Wednesday, Swimming South Africa (SSA) gave permission for their athletes to choose whichever suit they'd like to swim in, regardless of the fact they have an existing sponsor in Arena.
For the sprinters in the team, there'll be a major concern over whether they'll be at a disadvantage if they don't swim in the Speedo suit, and despite early assurances from South African swimmers that they weren't worried, the amount of records broken in the Speedo is alarming.
Continues Below ↓
Since release, 44 world records have been shattered by swimmers wearing the new LZR Racer and while South African swimmers claimed that the suit didn't make a bad swimmer a good one, they wouldn't want to leave anything to chance at the Olympic Games.
Arena have come up with a modified version of their older Powerskin R-Evolution suit, but while the suit is functional and practical, it's been released so close to the Olympics that swimmers haven't had the chance to compare the two.
The Arena suit will be available to South African swimmers without any charge, but it is unclear whether any of them will switch to the Speedo or stay with a sponsor, who until now had served them well.
Also, because the South Africans are not sponsored by Speedo, they might have to fork out the money themselves if they choose to change suits.
The LZR Racer bodysuit and shorter variants thereof will set each swimmer back about R4000 and so the decision will also be made taking into consideration the financial implications.
On his return from the World Short Course Championships earlier this year, South African breaststroke champion Cameron van der Burgh admitted that he had used the Speedo suit in training. "I had a chance to swim in the suit and I felt like it really did make a difference," he said.
"I would hate to get to the Olympics and lose out to a guy who's wearing the suit and not know whether I was truly beaten or not. It has to be fair."
Also returning from the Short Course Championships, Suzaan van Biljon, who won a gold and bronze in the 200m and 100m breaststroke respectively, refused to think of switching allegiances.
"I am sponsored by Arena and will be happy with whatever suit they give me to swim in."
South African swimming team captain Gerhard Zandberg shared Van Biljon's sentiments, but at the time his opinion was based on the assumption that Arena would come to the party before the Olympics started.
"Arena have something similar up their sleeve and it should be released before Beijing," he said at the time.
Arena tried taking legal action against Speedo for contravening the laws governing production of swimsuits and using illegal materials, but their efforts came to naught.
Instead, Speedo are the toast of the town now and swimmers around the world are facing the same conundrum.
For swimmers like Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling, the decision will be an even harder one because they were used as the faces of the Arena campaign.
The swimmers' decisions will only be made in a few days, but it will be interesting to see who goes for loyalty and who's not leaving it to chance.
- This article was originally published on page 30 of The Star on July 31, 2008
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
