Bring on the speed, baby

You hear those familiar words: "On your mark…" (Your heart races.) "Get set…" (Don’t dive just yet – disqualification is embarrassing.) "Go!" (Create a big splash after.) Time to ignore the other competitors, the spectators and the rest of the world. Time to swim like an agile great white shark.

Years ago, I participated in swimming competitions so I can never forget the thrill of it all – of hitting the water and feeling a gazillion butterflies swirling like a hurricane in my tummy. There are many things to bear in mind as a swimmer: avoiding the buildup of excess body fat, training religiously at least twice a day, strictly watching one’s diet and, of course, doing one’s best in the pool. But it is very important in swimming and competing to choose the proper outfit. (The same thing in life, I guess)

Before, women swimmers had to make do with the traditional one-piece (black or floral swimsuits). Now, there are loads to choose from: suits for big hips, flat butts, small breasts, huge breasts, big tummies, full figures, no figures and what-have-you. Thankfully, women do not have to wear a T-shirt over their bathing suits when swimming anymore. Sing halleluiah to swimsuits that lipo-dissolve flabby areas!

The swimsuit’s funky and functional evolution began during the hippie days. Women became more comfortable with flaunting their bodies and strutting their psychedelic-printed sexy bikinis in wading pools and crowded beaches. Swimsuits have a fetish-wear appeal that produces either fashion victims or slaves. Choosing the perfect swimsuit is like choosing a Vera Wang wedding gown. It changes in size, shape, color and fit, and its context is what makes a woman sexy.

Competitive swimmers, however, are not purely concerned with their looks since their attention is focused on winning the best accessory – and this accessory comes in gold, silver and bronze. With this in mind, Speedo recently launched the "world’s fastest swimsuit" that will enable competitive swimmers to perform better, or maybe even set world records and get the gold.

Born in the Speedo Aqualab (Speedo’s research and development headquarters), Speedo’s Fastskin FSII increases speed by reducing passive drag by up to four percent. Too technical, eh? Basically, this Speedo swimsuit was patterned after the shark’s skin. The shark is not hydrodynamic but is extremely fast in water since it has skin that minimizes drag and maximizes efficiency. The same way that the Speedo suit optimizes the flow of water around the athlete. Hail to the fish that we fear the most!

The original Speedo Fastskin FS suit uses the same fabric for the whole suit, while the new model utilizes different fabrics for different parts of the body. It also has a vortex controller that acts like the shark’s skin, going from rough to smooth. The Fastskin FSII also comes in different silhouettes that are gender - and stroke - specific. Swimmers who specialize in freestyle need the full body suit, while swimmers whose expertise is the butterfly stroke need the sleeveless one, which gives them more arm freedom.

Using those hi-tech Speedo suits, athletes have a really good chance of swimming their way to victory. Speedo endorser Michael Phelps, 18-year-old American swimming champ, is eyeing Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in the Athens Olympics. If he tops Spitz’s achievement, he will reportedly get an additional $1 million bonus from Speedo. According to Phelps, he has competed using Speedo gear exclusively, even when he was a child competitor.

The first time I saw that futuristic Speedo sharkskin suit, it reminded me of the scaly costume of chameleon villain Mystique from the X-Men movie. Not surprising since Speedo worked with CyberFX, the Hollywood body-scanning and special effects company behind Spider-man, The Matrix and Charlie’s Angels to test the Fastskin FSII. The company was involved in the development process early on and was able to use its body-scanning technology to enable Speedo to create anatomically-correct (virtual and actual) models of the average male and female swimmers to provide the perfect base upon which to test the suit.

Speedo is set to launch Fastskin FSII in September in all Speedo branches nationwide and each suit will cost around P7,000. Shockingly expensive? Yes, but it’s a good investment for competitive swimmers. These suits are strictly designed for competition and will have a lifespan of two years.

Manish Mahtani, Speedo VP for operations, said the company is sponsoring four swimmers from the Philippine Team – which include Jaclyn Pangilinan, James Bernard Walsh, Miguel Molina and Miguel Mendoza – at the Athens Olympiad. Even if the rest of us are not part of the swimming elite, we could at least put on Speedo killer suits, look good and prevent ourselves from falling into the unfashionable countdown to extinction.