Top swimmers in Beijing are using the Speedo LZR Racer swimsuit. In developing the suit, Speedo turned to ANSYS Inc., an American-based company whose office is in Waterloo, Ontario.ANYS Inc. helped come up with the engineering software used by the swimsuit giant to develop its suit.
The synthetic suit was introduced in February, 2008 and since then close to 60 world records have been set by athletes wearing it.
Phelps and his three American teammates wore the LZR Racer suits during their dramatic victory over France in the 4x100-metre relay Monday. The American men broke the world record with their winning time of three minutes 8.24 seconds.
The software simulated the flow of water over the suit and the swimmer’s body. It helped Speedo figure out how water was going to flow around a swimmer’s body and where it was going to create areas of high or low water resistance. Then they could modify their swimsuit design based on that information.
Formula One auto racing and America’s Cup yacht racing as well as some Olympic rowing, sailing and cycling teams are using the software to help improve their athletes’ or team’s performances, he said.
NASA researchers and developers, the Australian Institute of Sport and fashion designer Comme des garcons were also involved in the development of the suit, which took several years and costs about $500.
Source: Canadian Press
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