Under Armour/Lockheed Suit Blamed For US Skating Performance 357
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."
Then again, maybe it’s not the suits at all. (Score:5, Interesting)
“It could also be,” he said of the Americans, “that they were just outclassed here.”
Re:Its too bad.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Like the IOC did with swimming banning such suits, you'd think they would have made this a rule across all sports.
Re:Untested? (Score:5, Interesting)
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:Dice Blamed for Beta (Score:4, Interesting)
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 [mountainlifemag.ca] suggests otherwise. (NSFW)
And, at Sochi, there seems to be one unintentional attempt. [vdobean.com]
Re:Then again, maybe it’s not the suits at a (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:numbers? (Score:4, Interesting)
And how much of that is due to the elevation difference between SLC (~1288 m) and Sochi (near sea level). I'm too lazy to do the math for all of them, but based on my experience in cycling at sea level vs. 1500 m, those look like substantially attributable to the elevation. Add in differences in ice quality, and you might have all the difference. A more appropriate comparison is to look at how they've been doing against all their international competition over the past year, looking at performances at the same venue on the same day, and extrapolating.
This article: why higher elevation is better [insidescience.org] even points out that the final training for the US team was done at elevation. Training at sea level and using hypoxic tents at night might have been a better idea.