Law prof on Olympic coverage: "This headline is a metaphor for basically the entire world"

[pnwmom]

8. The article was about that day's performance, not his whole career. And Katie's 12 years younger.

How do you know she won't equal or surpass his record? Or that no one else will?

But maybe you're right. Phelps won at least 8 of his Olympic medals wearing the kind of high-tech swimsuit they're not allowing anymore, after 43 world records were set at a meet in 2009. New swimsuit rules mandate "only textile fabrics, banned zippers and restricted the amount of coverage from the waist to the top of the knees for men — so-called 'jammers' — and to the upper body and upper legs for women."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-olympics-swimsuits-20160805-story.html

Speedo was on the cutting edge of the swimsuit wars with its revolutionary LZR Racer, which was developed with help from NASA's wind tunnel testing facilities and became the go-to attire heading into the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

With polyurethane incorporated into the fabric and strategically placed panels that compressed the body in key spots, the suit helped a swimmer stay higher in the water and minimize resistance — essentially mimicking the effect of a dolphin gliding through the ocean.

Phelps was wearing the LZR when he won a record eight gold medals in China, famously capturing a $1 million bonus from Speedo. But by the following summer, the suit was basically rendered obsolete by the fully rubberized models that led the assault on the record books in Rome.

"Pretty much anybody could swim fast in those suits," Beisel said. "Now, you definitely need to be a hard worker and have some yardage and stuff under your belt. You can't just rely on the suits to make you fast anymore."