WHAT THE CHAMPIONS ARE WEARING

Many champions and their coaches are paid by swimsuit manufacturers to endorse their bodysuit products. Those endorsements often "strengthen" preposterous and misleading claims about the performance value of bodysuits. However, when it comes down to the time of accountability, such as swimming at a Trials to earn a place on a national team, or swimming at an Olympic Games, swimmers usually opt for the suit that either "best suits them" or "inhibits their swimming the least". The gallery below really tells a story behind the bodysuit promotion.

In men's freestyle events at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Ian Thorpe was the only gold medalist to wear an upper body covering and sleeves. Anthony Ervin, Gary Hall Jr., Pieter van den Hoogenbond, and Grant Hacket were bare chested with Grant Hackett being the only swimmer to wear a knee to ankle suit.

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