Suit Circus Threatens to Drown Trials

“The last honest Olympic sport” is about to kick the can, Scott Ostler writes in the San Francisco Chronicle, and the culprit is a familiar one: technology. The sport is swimming, and Olympic trials (beginning Sunday) coincide with a brutal competition among swimsuit makers for athletes’ affection. "Swimmers and coaches are caught in a last-minute scramble, at a bad time," Ostler writes.

After swimmers in Speedo's LZR Racer broke poolfuls of records, Nike and Tyr ran to catch up—and now a California maker might have done them all one better. “If you wonder why mankind can't cure cancer or solve the energy problem or climate crisis,” Ostler writes, “it's because all the world's scientists have been diverted into R&D of the swimsuit.” (More swimming stories.)