Sports tech swimming kit [Technology Swimming]

SWIMMING is among the most minimalist of sports in terms of equipment, yet in recent years, high-tech swimsuits have become so effective that in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, competitors wearing the Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit - made from a mix of woven elastane-nylon and polyurethane - set 23 out of 25 world records and won 94 per cent of the races. These non-textile, full-body suits were subsequently banned in 2009 by world swimming's governing body FINA, which ruled that that men's swimsuits may maximally cover the area from the waist to the knee, and women's suits from the shoulder to the knee. The fabric must be a textile or a woven material (an open-mesh material like cotton, nylon or Lycra).