How Technology Has Affected The Performance Of Olympic Swimming

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Swimming has been a key skill for survival since the dawn of man but swimming first became an Olympic Sport in 1834. In this essay I will be discussing how technology has impacted the performance of Olympic Swimming over the years. The technology I will be examining is the material incorporated in the swimsuits. The reason why I chose to discuss this technology is because it has changed and impacted the sport in more that one way and has presented a bigger change than any of the other technologies. In swimming one of the most important pieces of gear is your swimsuit. When swimming first became a sport, swimsuits were made out of a paperlike material in 1834. This material tended to absorb water and provided more drag. However over the years swimsuit developers such as speedo have attempted to create a swimsuit that is made out of a material that has less drag, helps the swimmers be more streamlined in the water and allows the swimmer to perform better in his or her races. This has led them to create one of the most effective swimsuits ever created the Full-body polyurethane swimsuit. The material created replaced the normal material used for previous swimsuits like Nylon, Spandex and the paperlike material. The suits material is extremely thin and foam like and covers the swimmer from the neck to the ankles. The modification of the new material polyurethane has improved performance in various ways. The new material is able to enclose and trap tiny pockets of gas

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