I also agree that the championships this year are a joke. It was crazy last year, but it's even more so this year.

yea or hes on something???? how do u qualify 5th at the olympics then beat the best swimmer in the world at the 200 and not qualify at all in the 400 and now you're the world record holder..i think a test is in line because a single suit cannot take that much off your time

Relax, this is no different than golf and the ridiculous drivers they use (except golf is not athletic, Tom Watson (59), John Day). The man is a world class athlete and got the techincal edge needed to beat the best. It's not like you or me putting on the suit and all of a sudden, we're olympians. Or did steroids and improved HR power by 40%.

Nobody complained about the prior state of the art swimsuits being used to break all type of records by some Phelps guy.

Yes, people did complain about the Speedo suit that Phelps and the others wore. AND a suit CAN help good swimmers take that much time off.

I think what we're seeing now is a lot of Phelps haters that want to point out that Phelps was aided by the Speedo suit last year. But the only race Phelps swam at the Olympics that was close enough for the suits to come into play was the 100 butterfly, where he barely out-touched Milorad Cavic. And apparently everyone wants to forget that Cavic ALSO wore a LZR Racer in that race, and his was a bodysuit, rather than just the legs like Phelps wore. So if anyone should have benefitted from the suit in that race, it was Cavic. In his other individual races, he was so far out in front that he could have won wearing a banana hammock.
These new suits are difficult to lump into the exact same category as the LZR Racer, because they aren't in any way made of cloth. The Arena and Jaked suits are 100% polyurethane. That's important because those substances are non-permeable and can trap air and make a swimmer more buoyant, in addition to being extremely efficient in the water. When Biedermann says he thinks his suit was worth two seconds in the 400 free, that's significant - it's an admission by the athlete that his results have been artificially enhanced. Coming from a guy who didn't final in the event in 2008, that's a big deal. Even if he's underselling the impact of the suit, logically, that would still amount to a one-second improvement over 200m, which is about the margin between him and Phelps.
Now, I don't think Phelps has trained enough this year to throw down a legit 1:42 in the 200 free, so it's possible, maybe even probable, that Biedermann could have beaten Phelps had they both worn the same suits. But based on what we've seen, it's reasonable to assume that there will be many races at Worlds in which the outcome will be determined by who has the faster suit. That sucks for everyone, both the losers, who will question whether they were beaten by a slow swimmer in a fast suit, and the winners, who (if they have integrity) will always wonder whether they truly were the best swimmer in the pool, or if their win was due to what they wore.
I am glad they're banning the things. It will be nice to have the outcome of a race based on the clock once again.

Make em all swim naked.

Agreed, Robb

the problem isn't the suit Phelps is wearing, its all the dope he's been smoking. lol

Phelps used an advanced suit compared to the ones used in sydney and athens, so he is as much a cheater as Biedermann. I am sure that Phelps wouldnt have won as many races as he did if he wore the same suits as other swimmers. Only when a none american athlete wins with some use of technology do we hear complaints regarding issues like that. Why is phelps' use of drugs brushed off so easily. He was supposed to be a role model for kids. With his recent drug use issue, he should be banned from swimming. If it was some other athlete, the entire sport community would have made a huge deal about it. Enough with the double standards. He should be treated very harshly for what he did. He should be stripped off his medals.

Saying that a suit cannot help u swim faster is like saying that the aerodinamics of a car has nothing to do with the speed... But i must agree that Phelps was slightly out of shape...

People like to pretend like Phelps won 8 gold medals because of the suit he wore in Beijing. WRONG. Yes, Phelps wore a top-of-the-line suit in Beijing. But so did almost everyone else - the LZR Racer was universally accepted to be the best suit available. Milorad Cavic wore a LZR Racer in the 100 fly as well - where's Phelps' advantage there? And that was the only race that was even close. He swam against the best swimmers in the world, wearing the same type of suit, and still beat them, despite being under unbelievable pressure the entire time. To pretend it was because of the suit he wore cheapens his accomplishment.
Why do people post when they don't know what they're talking about? Ammar Z: Yes, suits have developed since Athens. But it's not like Phelps threw on a LZR Racer and all of a sudden became dominant - the guy won six golds in Athens before the LZR Racer was even a pipe dream, and he'd been dominating swimming since 2001. He's been lowering world records for nearly eight years. He beat the world's best again and again, while wearing the same type of suit as them. Now this guy Biedermann comes along, a 22-year old swimmer with no history of dominance, wearing a supersuit. He beats Phelps, and people want to pretend that Phelps had it coming because Phelps happened to be the best? Biedermann went from 1:46 in the 200 free to 1:42 in less than a year, and went from 3:47 to 3:40 in the 400 free in less than a year. That's not right - anyone who knows swimming knows you can't get those sorts of time drops at the Olympic level in one year. Anyone with their head above the sand knows that the suit played a big role, which cheapens Biedermann's accomplishment and makes a mockery of the history books.
People should celebrate world records and not roll their eyes, but that's what's happening. If you don't think those suits are ridiculous aids to swimming speed, check out the final 50m of the men's 800m freestyle. Watch the video and you tell me how it looks. Nobody swims that fast at the end of an 800m free, least of all some relatively unknown Chinese swimmer whose never come close to the WR but ended up breaking up by 6.5 seconds. These suits need to be banned ASAP.

There should be 2 levels of world record: with and without the bionic swim suites.
Why make it official world records with a banned swim suite?????

Ammar Z -- Stripped of his medals? For using marijuana once as only proven by a frenzied media trying to make big time money on a super over-hyped story? You must be out of your mind. Athletes might be role-models, but they're allowed mistakes. First offenses are not "stripped of all career history," anyway. Ricky Williams? 4 game suspension for weed. Diana Taurasi - 2 game suspension for a DUI. We don't want to be selling kids weed based on a Phelps recommendation, for sure, but we're also not going to condemn the guy.
As for the non-American nonsense... the US was the first country to suggest banning the new hyper suits, despite knowing they previously had the best technology, which put the LZR to shame. Phelps wasn't even wearing the bodysuit version of the LZR that Cavic wore in the closest competition he faced in the individual golds. So, really, that's just a pathetic comment from your end.

It's worth mentioning that Ian Thorpe's "hallowed" 400m world record was swum in a suit that will be illegal in 2010. Not only did it extend from his waist all the way to his ankles, but it also extended from his waist to his shoulders, with full sleeves (complete to his wrists).
The "textile" was likely different, but this guy still had his arms exposed. Take that for whatever it's worth.