|
The history of competitive swimwear has been dominated by concerns over public nudity in the first half of the 20th century and by efforts to reduce water drag in the second half.〔 Those efforts initially lead swimmers to reduce the early sagging one-piece swimsuits down to briefs only. With the development of new materials that tightly fit the body and offered lower resistance to water than human skin, this trend was reversed to a complete body coverage from heels to neck and wrists. FINA banned full-body suits from competition effective from 1 January 2010, stating that it "wishes to recall the main and core principle is that swimming is a sport essentially based on the physical performance of the athlete".〔 Goggles were used in the crossing of the English Channel back in 1911, but only in 1970 appeared at international competitions. With the advent of rubber technology, latex swimming caps became mass-produced in the 1920s, and more efficient silicone caps appeared in the 1970s. Today, competitive swimwear is a major business for companies like Speedo, Arena and TYR and its development involves such institutions as NASA and Australian Institute of Sport. ==Early years== Olympic Games have been the most important international swimming competition. While men's events were an integral part of all Olympics, women's races were introduced only in 1912, and until 1924 were limited to a couple of freestyle events. Public nudity was a major concern in designing early swimwear. It was a major factor behind the non-participation of American women in the 1912 Olympics.〔 At those Games British women wore full-body silk suits of such a volume that they could be passed through a wedding ring. The suits were complemented by bras and bikini-style briefs as they became transparent when wet. Women's coaches were rare at early Olympics, and to further reduce the chances of harassment women were accompanied by chaperones.〔 Even men wore one-piece swimsuits covering the body from hips to shoulders up to the 1940s.〔Daily News, pp. 1, 5〕 In 1928, Speedo introduced their racerback silk suit that was optimized to fit the body shape.〔〔Daily News, p. 6〕 It uncovered the shoulder blades, which almost resulted in disqualification of Clare Dennis at the 1932 Olympics,〔 but became a norm by 1936.〔Daily News, p. 7〕 Meanwhile, men were allowed to swim in bare-chest suits in 1936, and in briefs only at the 1948 Olympics.〔〔Daily News, p. 8〕 In 1956, Speedo became the first company to introduce nylon〔Daily News, pp. 9, 12〕 and in the 1970s elastane to their swimsuits that improved their elasticity, durability and water drag – 21 out of 22 records at the 1972 Olympics were broken using nylon/elastane suits.〔 At the same Olympics, East German swimmers adopted suits that were tightly following the body shape, the so-called "skinsuits". They were initially made of cotton and became virtually transparent when wet. The revealing shape and transparency caused outrage among US swimmers; meanwhile, at the 1973 World Aquatics Championships, East German women won 10 of 14 events and set seven world records. Those championships became the turning point for the world to adopt the skinsuit, modified with novel synthetic materials, as a standard competitive swimwear.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of competitive swimwear」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|