Speedo LZR Racer Suit: Is Michael Phelps Cheating?

I don't know how athletes convince themselves that it's OK to cheat by using banned performance-enhancing drugs.

What good are medals and honors and world records if they're tainted?

Watching the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, it was exciting to see records set. It didn't cross my mind that the new records were undeserved.

I know about the Speedo LZR Racer Suit controversy, but I really don't see why some people are complaining about that.

Phelps's quest to top Mark Spitz's seven gold medals is only the second biggest swim story in the run-up to the Olympics. Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuit is causing the biggest splash in and out of the pool. The rubbery full-body corset would look more at home in a Batman movie than on the pool deck. But since it was introduced in February, swimmers wearing it have set a stunning 38 world records. Rivals' suits have set just three world records during that time, which has them crying foul (while scrambling to come up with their own sci-fi suits). The coach of the Italian team calls the LZR Racer "technological doping." The second largest U.S. swimwear maker, TYR, filed a federal lawsuit in California, alleging anticompetitive practices, against Speedo's parent company, the coach of the U.S. swim team and even a TYR endorser, Olympic medalist Erik Vendt, who switched to the Speedo. A Japanese swimmer under contract to Mizuno just set a world record in a LZR (pronounced laser), which he'll wear in Beijing. Swimming's governing body, FINA, approved the LZR for the Olympics, but controversy still swirls, which is fine by Speedo. "It's very nice to have your competitors recognize they're at a disadvantage," says Speedo's marketing chief Stu Isaac. "They're doing our marketing for us."

..."The swimmer makes the suit, not the other way around," says [Michael Phelps' coach Bob] Bowman.

"Swimming's governing body, FINA, approved the LZR for the Olympics."

Swimmers wearing the suit shouldn't be accused of "technological doping."

They're following the rules of the sport. End of story.

There's nothing wrong with swimming in a suit approved for Olympic competition.

Using banned substances to enhance one's performance is an entirely different matter.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Phelps set a world record in his first event of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, touching just ahead of Ryan Lochte to win the 400-meter individual medley in 4 minutes, 5.25 seconds Sunday night.

Katie Hoff matched her former North Baltimore teammate in the 400 IM, taking down the women's mark in 4:31.12.

Overshadowing the new records were comments made by swimming veteran Gary Hall Jr. on Sunday, expressing concern over his belief that swimmers are using performance-enhancing drugs to give them a boost in the pool.

''To think that it doesn't exist is foolish,'' Hall said. ''All doping scandals are not a direct result of positive tests. They're usually somebody getting caught by some other means. I don't think that we can rely on a doping agency to really catch the people that are so far ahead of where the testing is.''

Hall said he was speaking out because he's worried about the future of a sport he began in as a youngster. He said the public suspicion directed toward many of today's athletic accomplishments ''can be very depressing and it has been very frustrating for a lot of clean athletes.''

He mentioned the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where the East German women piled up gold medals. They were later found to have cheated through steroid use, but at the time they credited their world records and success to the type of swimsuit they wore.

''Clearly we know now it wasn't the suit that was causing all these world records to be broken. It was copious amounts of steroids,'' Hall said. ''Can the suit technology distract from another issue? I think it's pretty convenient for those that are indulging the other issue.''

Hall acknowledged he has no positive drug tests to back up his comments.

''Unfortunately, we rely on an inadequate doping system and doping agencies for the proof,'' he said. ''We live in a society where innocent until proven guilty, the key word being proven, and we don't have any way of proving these people are cheating. We never did.''

I think it's wrong for Hall to toss around accusations without any proof.

In the case of the East German swimmers, it was clear that something was terribly amiss. It wasn't just their success in the pool that tipped people off.

For example:

When a rival coach noted with some sarcasm that the voices of many of the East German women were unusually deep -- a telltale sign of the effects of steroid use in females -- an East German coach replied, "We came here to swim, not sing."

Being on a regimen of anabolic steroids and other banned substances is completely different from competing in an APPROVED suit.

Hall's claims of doping are extremely serious. In effect, he's calling out Michael Phelps and other superior American swimmers as cheaters.

He's frustrated with the "innocent until proven guilty" concept.

I think he needs to be patient. If the American swimmers have an edge based on doping, then that will come out eventually as it did with the East Germans. They will be shamed like Marion Jones.

The accomplishments of Michael Phelps and others will be discredited and they will take their place in Olympic history among the disgraced.

The champions will be identified as cheaters. They will be losers. But at this point, Hall is the loser.