Polyurethane swimming suits were introduced into the international world of swimming in the 2009 World Championships in Rome when USA swimming superstar Michael Phelps suffered his first individual defeat in almost four years to a no name German swimmer called Paul Biedermann in the 200m freestyle. (Crouse, 2009) Biedermann shocked the swimming world when he also smashed the World Record and improved his personal best in the 400m freestyle by almost 8 seconds. This astonishing event alarmed FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation or International Swimming Federation) and also raised questions about the suit worn by Biedermann and what the sport of swimming was becoming. After the race Phelps said this in an interview Now its not swimming. The headlines are always whos wearing what suit. (Crouse, 2009) .
Polyurethane was invented in the 1930s and is made in the form of foam and flexible plastic. It was originally used in automobile seating, car and bike wheels. After the success of the partially polyurethane Speedo Swimsuit in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, swimsuit manufacturers began developing these suits except using 100% polyurethane. Some of these suits were banned by FINA whereas others were approved. (No Author, 2010) These suits are made of polyurethane foam which is made up of closed-cells which contain gas that is less dense than water. The lower density allows swimmers to float in the pool which gets more of the swimmers body out of the water. Drag on the human body when moving in water is around 780 times more than the drag on the human body in air (Barrow, 2012) so it makes sense that having more of your body out of the water is a much better thing as it makes a big difference in the swimmers speeds and times. The suits also reduce the effects of muscle fatigue meaning that swimmers can work harder for longer without the pain in their muscles that are doing lots of work.