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."

Comments

Untested?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who the hell goes to the Olympics with untested gear, just hoping it will work?

Re:Untested?

[Dunbal]

Americans

Re:Untested?

[QilessQi]

I don't know whether this should be modded +1 Funny or +1 SadlyObvious.

Re:Untested?

[icebike]

Who the hell goes to the Olympics with untested gear, just hoping it will work?

Apparently no one. Regardless of what the summary says the linked articles say different:

Under Armour developed the skintight aerodynamic suit for the Sochi Games and it was pretested for specific conditions, including the sea-level altitude, that athletes would face there. ...

The suits were delivered to the team in January, when preliminary adjustments for fit and comfort were made for each athlete, Mr. Haley said. The company also sent a team of specialists to Sochi to make adjustments as needed. The U.S. team wore the suits in the past month for simulated race conditions, but the Games marked the first time in competition.

Any professional skater can tell you after a month of testing that your suit sucks. But chances are the US Olympic committee didn't want to listen.
That clue was dropped by the coach:

U.S. national long-track team coach Ryan Shimabukuro declined to discuss the suits or Under Armour. "I'm not going to criticize them, even if I was allowed to," he said.

I'm betting there was bitching all along.

Re:Untested?

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

When they get the bugs worked out, yes. From their design brochure:

"It's basically a micro-sandwich — a high-efficiency filter and heat-exchange system. The skin-contact layer's porous with vortex-damping dimples. Perspiration passes through it, having cooled the body ... near-normal evaporation process. The next two layers . . . include heat exchange filaments and salt precipitators. Salt's reclaimed. Motions of the body, especially breathing and some osmotic action provide the pumping force. Reclaimed water circulates to catchpockets from which you draw it through this tube in the clip at your neck... Urine and feces are processed in the thigh pads. In the open desert, you wear this filter across your face, this tube in the nostrils with these plugs to ensure a tight fit. Breathe in through the mouth filter, out through the nose tube."

Re:Untested?

[ShieldW0lf]

Better question is, who the hell tries to gain an unfair advantage over other athletes by having millions of dollars worth of resources dumped into their clothes, then expects to be taken seriously when they ask for a variation of the rules because those clothes are slowing them down?

I'm embarrassed for them.

Its too bad..

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Then again, maybe it’s not the suits at all.

[djupedal]

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.”

Re:Dice Blamed for Beta

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

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.

Re:Hard to get excited about Olympics

[timeOday]

I thought at the end you were about to say this shows that sport is still about athletic performance and not just money after all. That's what I think. And I don't the US should be allowed to change equipment during the competition either. Even though I'm skeptical it would matter.

The amount of whining I've heard about these Olympics in general is pathetic. So transparent. Even though the games themselves have been not bad at all IMHO.

Similarly it was pretty lame to listen to the announcers bend over backwards to excuse the mistakes of the US snowboard halfpipe team on the bad snow or the design of the pipe itself - then Shaun White said, "yeah, well, everybody was on the same course." I've been seeing some articles lately about him being a dick but that bumped him up a couple notches in my book.

Re:Dice Blamed for Beta

[MightyMartian]

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.

Re:Then again, maybe it’s not the suits at a

[blackfeltfedora]

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

Re: Dice Blamed for Beta

[Anonymous Coward]

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"?