Strict swimming costume rules Olympic athletes must follow as unfortunate optical illusion steals the show
Mia Williams
Featured Image Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images/Jari Pestelacci/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
As the 2024 Paris Olympics continue, it has emerged that swimmers are banned from wearing certain costumes after previous designs proved to be advantageous for certain contestants.
Rules in the Olympics are not few and far between - and the swimming competition is not an exception.
And it seems as though the guidelines extend further than just when competitors are in the pool, as the rules about what they choose to wear are very clear.
This includes everything from the style of swimsuit and shorts, to the material they are made out of.
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Already this year, one Dutch swimmer's trunks left viewers of the Olympic Games in complete disbelief after they spotted an unfortunate optical illusion.
Arno Kamminga, 28, graced the pool wearing a pair of trunks which saw the thigh portion perfectly match his skin colour before the 100m breaststroke final.
The shorts were mostly white with the orange and grey triangles dotted across them to form a spiral pattern.
And because of the interesting colour choice and the dotted pattern, it almost appeared as if Kamminga was wearing nothing but some pretty tight speedos - certainly leaving little to the imaginaiton.
The importance of swimsuit design wasn't made clear until 2008, when a speciality suit was developed in order to enhance the swimmer's performance.
Ahead of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Speedo launched their LZR swimsuit, which was designed in collaboration with NASA.
And whilst the partnership seems pretty bizarre, 'rocket science' apparently played a big part in designing the specialised swimsuit.
The space agency noted that 25 world records in swimming were set during the 2008 Games, and that 23 were set by athletes wearing the LZR.
Upon reflection of this, the Olympics have since spoke out and deemed this a moment where 'technology went too far'.
They explained that the so-called 'super suits' were made of polyurethane, which was seen to provide a greater advantage to larger athletes.
In 2009, Michael Phelps - after winning a record eight medals in Beijing - barely qualified for a third.
Reports at the time say that the other swimmers used higher-tech suits which were faster, resulting in the loss.
World Aquatics then decided that enough was enough, and chose to ban the use of swimsuits with polyurethane during competitions.
The rules, requiring textile-only fabric suits, went into effect in 2010.
The official guidance now states that men's swimsuits 'shall not extend above the navel nor below the knee, and for women shall not cover the neck or extend past the shoulders nor shall extend below the knee'.