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Under Armour/Lockheed Suit Blamed For US Skating Performance
Koreantoast writes "The United States' surprisingly poor performance in speedskating, despite strong performances in recent World Cup events, has been blamed in part on an untested speedskating suit. The Mach 39, designed through a joint venture between Under Armour and Lockheed Martin, was supposed to provide Team USA with a high tech advantage, using advanced fluid dynamic models and a dimpled surface to disrupt air flow and improve comfort. Instead, performances have been disastrous thus far, with athletes going as far as modifying their suits at the Olympics to try and reverse their fortunes. The suits have caused enough concerns that U.S. Speedskating is taking the unusual step of seeking special dispensation from International Skating Union to ditch the high tech suits and switch back to their old uniforms. Teams are normally required to keep the same equipment through the entire Games. Insert jokes and comparisons to Lockheed's more famous product, the JSF, here."
Who the hell goes to the Olympics with untested gear, just hoping it will work?
Its too bad these games end up being more about your tech than your personal ability. Participants should all be required to use the same gear so that the gold is won based on personal merit.
...perhaps other countries just have better made and tested suits.
Trolling is a art,
Michel Mulder, who led a Dutch sweep of the medals in the men’s 500, offered another explanation.
“It could also be,” he said of the Americans, “that they were just outclassed here.”
... are just better skaters. With or without suit. Live with it.
It's all money, money, money. Corporate, corporate, corporate. The tickets are expensive, the travel murderous on the pocket and many seats are taken by corporate people who never show up. Then we get to the ugly bits about technology, so and so has a suit built by some high tech company of Unobtanium fibres and they are going up against Joe Somebody from Outer Slobovia, who is wearing whatever was on the rack at the local sport shop.
It's like cheering on millionaires and then getting your blood in a boil when you think someone cheated them.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
In the ancient world, Greek athletes competed naked, and rubbed with a layer of olive oil.
I advocate this as the rule for all modern Olympians.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
In the ancient world, Greek athletes competed naked, and rubbed with a layer of olive oil.
I advocate this as the rule for all modern Olympians.
Some of the gymnasts and figure skaters are 15 years old. But I bet you knew that.
I read the articles, and what's missing is the actual times.
The articles say they're slower than the other competitors, but what I'm curious about is this: are the USA skaters posting slower times in the suits than they did wearing other suits? If not, then it isn't the suits.
I know I could spend some time researching this on the Internet, but I'm feeling as lazy as the reporters that wrote the original article.
Some of the gymnasts and figure skaters are 15 years old.
And?
Remember, nudity != porn.
Heaven forbid that someone else in the world was just better and won legitimately. No, there has to be something to blame for the loss.
For every winner of gold, there are dozens who go home with nothing. Maybe it's just your turn to be the ones who go home empty handed.
It does happen.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Sounds like they were trying to get an advantage with better gear, and it turned into a disadvantage. What, do you only want the good parts of having non-equivalent gear, and not the bad?
Seems like we should look into standardizing the gear across competitors-- if not, doesnt seem like theres much room for complaining.
Not in Sochi they wouldn't...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
I'm certainly ashamed of *my* human form and have no desire to cause economic damage to any nude resort by my attendance au naturel.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Michel Mulder, who led a Dutch sweep of the medals in the men’s 500, offered another explanation.
“It could also be,” he said of the Americans, “that they were just outclassed here.”
The issue is that these same Americans have been winning races against the same competitors over the last two years. Brittany Bowe is a world record holder, but came in 8th this week.
To the American athlete's credit, they have been downplaying the suit's impact and giving credit to the winners. The controversy is coming from the media.
The ancient Greek olympics happened in the summer, not the winter. The Winter olympics have only been around since 1924. Athletes would succumb to exposure in a short time if they competed naked.
This clip suggests otherwise. (NSFW)
And, at Sochi, there seems to be one unintentional attempt.
I'll listen to the guy who designed the Dutch suits: Bert van der Tuuk, the designer of the Dutch Olympic team's suits, said Thursday he had tried a similar ventilation panel on the back of a prototype three years ago, but it slowed his skaters by letting in air and creating drag. "The suit was blowing itself up," he said. http://goo.gl/YaDlg8
For instance, in cycling one major decision is which gears you put on your bike for a given race. Some people are better with bigger gears, and some smaller gears. Forcing everyone to use the same ones would put people at a disadvantage.
This isn't a problem: just give them all a multi-speed bike that has ALL the gears. The only reason you'd only put some gears on a bike for a given race is because you're trying to eliminate extra weight and streamline the bike for the conditions it'll see in that race (you're trying to optimize it). If everyone has the exact same bike, this isn't necessary. No, this bike won't be as optimal for any one person as a custom-built (and -geared) bike, but it'll have all the gearings that any of the athletes might want, and eliminate the machinery as a competitive advantage
And the machines still make it unfair- if you homogenize the machines to that extent then you end up homogenizing the people who can be competitive, as well. Staying with your example, small cyclists tend to have high power to weight, but low overall power, so it makes them more suited to climbing. Putting them on bikes with "all the possible gears" at the expense of weight means that the machine is a larger fraction of the rider+weight than for larger cyclists, thus using the machine to take away some of their real physical advantage. Even racing in a very controlled environment (i.e. a velodrome, where it's essentially dead flat), where riders are allowed to choose any gear they want (but only one gear), riders in a given race will choose different gears depending on their riding and racing style (spin vs mash, breakaway for laps vs. sit in and sprint). Sticking everyone in the same gear will likely put some of them at a disadvantage (which is intentionally done in junior racing, for both physical and fairness reasons).
As a guy who understands the effects of cold temperatures I'm going to say that's a bad idea for the winter Olympics.
As person of either gender who watches the games I'm going to say that's a bad idea for the winter Olympics.
I stole this Sig
Not to mention that in the era of the original Olympics, 15 year olds of both genders were *all* married and usually had more than one child.
The notion that a sexualization at 15 is "immoral" is just the last nanosecond on the historic clock. Remember that 99% of your ancestors married at 15 or younger. By contemporary definitions, we are all descended from long lines of pedophiles. As childhood gets longer and longer, how long until 18 also becomes "immoral"?
In my opinion the US skaters are just looking for a scapegoat. The truth is much simpler, us Dutchies are completely and utterly dominating the speed-skating competition at the Olympics.
A good suit is vs a bad suit just gives you a very very marginal advantage, the rest is training and professionalism. It's not just the US that is being squashed right now, each and every country competing in speedskating is getting a good ass-kicking. ;-)
Life starts at the end of your comfort zone.