Japan unveils new swimsuits

2008-05-30 15:18

Tokyo - Three Japanese sportswear companies on Friday unveiled new swimsuits they hope will match Speedo's high-tech, record-breaking LZR Racer ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.

Mizuno, Asics and Descente, who are contracted to the Japanese Swimming Federation, said they had come with the best they could offer by Friday.

Koji Ueno, the head of the federation's competition committee, told a news conference: "They have come up with products with confidence to excel Speedo. I think the products are promising."

Japanese Olympic swimmers, including defending breaststroke champion Kosuke Kitajima, are obliged to wear products made by one of the three firms, although most say they would prefer Britain's Speedo.

Modified Japanese versions

On May 7 the federation gave the three firms until May 30 to come up with an outfit comparable to the LZR Racer, which was designed with the help of US space agency NASA. Results of tests have not been made public.

The federation will decide on June 10 whether it would allow the swimmers to use the LZR Racer by changing contractual details or ask them to use the modified Japanese versions.

Japan's swimmers have been alarmed by the LZR Racer since its debut in February, with the suit being worn by athletes in 18 of the 19 new world long-course records broken since then.

They aim to win five swimming medals in Beijing.

Mizuno managing director Jyotaro Ueji said its suit had a new material tightening the swimmer's body, like the LZR Racer, to keep the ideal posture and reduce friction with water.

"We have been in the swimsuit business for nearly 50 years and we have reset ourselves in dealing with materials, patterns and everything," Ueji said.

Asics has used a polyurethane material for its two new types of suit to squeeze the legs to produce powerful kicks.

Super-fast rubber fabric

Descente, which produces swimwear under the Italian "Arena" brand, has developed two types of suits based on polyurethane materials after closely analysing the LZR Racer.

The swimsuit war took a new twist this month when Japan's Yamamoto Corp, which has supplied a super-fast synthetic rubber fabric to wetsuit makers around the world, offered the material to the three Japanese firms.

The material, Biorubber Swim-SCS Fabric, is the "world's fastest swimwear material," according to Yamamoto president Tomizo Yamamoto.

Asics and Descent said they had partly used the Yamamoto fabric in one of their new designs.

- AFP