Controversy from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing rocked the swimming world when Speedo unveiled a new swimsuit that completely blurred the lines between technology and individual. Four years later, the ISU swimming and diving team will take part in debuting Speedo’s newest suit, the FastSkin 3, at the Big 12 Championships this week.

At the time, Speedo’s LZR Racer was a revolutionary creation that provided more ankle-to-shoulder coverage for both men and women, and one of the members of the design team for both the LZR Racer and the FastSkin 3 was Iowa State’s own Rick Sharp, professor of kinesiology.

“I was brought into the project by Speedo, who has an internal R&D team who designs suits,” Sharp said in an email to the Daily. “They contacted me initially because I had published a couple of early studies [late 90s to 2000] on the effect of suit design on swimmer performance and efficiency.”

The LZR Racer has polyurethane panels bonded into the suit in the chest area, abdomen, buttocks and front of thigh. The poly panels are a very thin, rubbery material with low frictional drag, while also helping hold in softer parts of the body such as the stomach during swimming to help reduce water resistance.

Sharp said the testing of the suits was done at Iowa State.

“My role was advisory and to test prototypes to determine if the desired properties were being realized and when we’d make design changes,” Sharp said. “They asked me to start in this advisory role in 2005, when they started the project that led to the LZR Racer suit that was used at the Beijing Olympics.”

Numerous records were shattered at the Beijing Olympics by the athletes who wore the suits. In total, 66 world records were set by the wearers of LZR Racer.

Many thought such suits should be illegal in Olympic competition. One supporter of such notion was the Federation Internationale de Natation, the governing body of the swim world.

The federation held a meeting in 2010 and outlawed the LZR Racer from competition.

“FINA changed the rules pertaining to suits,” Sharp said. “Limiting coverage for women to knee to shoulder and for men from knee to navel. The new regulations also banned the use of solid sheet materials such as polyurethane panels.”

Since the ruling, all suits for competition have to comply with these regulations.

Speedo’s modified version of the LZR, the FastSkin 3 — which is being worn by ISU swimmers at the Big 12 championship meet in Columbia, Mo. — complies with all of FINA’s rules.

“The new suits are basically like the LZR’s,” said ISU senior swimmer Mandi Caudle. “We tried them on at the testing and I felt like the suit felt way better on the hips and holding my body in exactly the best stream line position.”

Sharp said the process of making swimsuits consists of assessing needs of those in the swimming community, establishing priorities, selecting fabrics based on numerous criteria, testing prototype suits, applying needed changes and developing the product for commercialization.

More information about the design process was not made available, as Speedo remains guarded about releasing too much detail about it.

“[The FastSkin 3] has been approved by FINA for use in international and domestic competition, as of Jan. 1, 2012,” Sharp said. “Consequently, swimmers can start using these suits as soon as they choose.”

Sharp said the FastSkin 3 does three things for swimmers: adds minimal water resistance while swimming, encourages body alignment during competition and holds skin tighter to the body to prevent lag while swimming.

Members of the ISU squad said being a swimmer at a school where a professor and his team are designing the suits comes with its perks. As the Cyclone swimmers were able to test out the new suits before they were made publicly available.

“We’re lucky to have Sharp here at Iowa State,” said ISU swim coach Duane Sorenson. “It’s a great chance to have those suits and see what we can do in them.”

Each of the Cyclones in competition this week will wear the suit. The Big 12 Championships concludes Saturday.