All Aussie swimmers but two reject the Speedo Fastskin3

Mar 28, 2012

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There is no end in sight to the Speedo suit controversy plaguing the Australian swimming team and their chief sponsor, with just two swimmers willing to wear the Speedo product in its current form. Via the Sydney Morning Herald

According to sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell, both sponsored by Adidas and going to wear an unmarked Adidas suit at the London Olympics, dissatisfaction with the new Speedo suit is so high many are applying for official exemptions to regulations demanding they compete in it.

“I think there’s about two people on the team who are happy with the Speedo suit at the moment,” Bronte Campbell said. “I think most of the team is happy with the older Speedo suit, so they may have to look at [wearing] that, but it’s not really an issue for us at all and I can’t really comment on what anyone else thinks of it.”

They have tried the Speedo suits, but found them heavier. “It’s made out of a woven, non-water repellent material,” Bronte Campbell, 17, said. “It’s supposed to absorb the water and keep a layer of water close to your skin, apparently to make you go faster, but it just – to me – feels heavy in the water. I don’t like it.”

Dual Olympic gold medallist Jessicah Schipper, also in the Adidas stable, said she tried the latest Speedo product but preferred her sponsor’s.

“It’s unofficial as of yet but I’m hoping to be wearing Adidas over there,” Schipper said. “I’ve tried [the Speedo suit] out, and I find they just don’t fit my body as well as the ones that were designed for me, and at the end of the day I [want to] race in what fits me best.”