Swimming world record holder hopes for doping-free Olympics

The Manila Times

Swimming world record holder hopes for doping-free Olympics  Swimming world record holder Cullen Jones says he hopes for a doping-free Olympics, speaking to Reuters on July 25, 2024 at the Piscine Molitor in Paris ahead of the 2024 Games. Two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in 4x100m freestyle relay, Jones said they were optimistic about seeing clean swimming events at the Games. Jones could see his world record broken at the Paris Olympics with Speedo's new Fastskin 2.0 swimsuit. Since the swimsuit's launch in November 2023, 80 percent of all world records have been broken wearing Fastskin technology. The Fastskin suit will be worn by swimmers competing at Paris 2024, including seven-time Olympic gold medalist Caleb Dressel, five-time Olympic gold medalist Emma McKeon and three-time Olympic gold medalist Adam Peaty. The swimsuit was developed by Speedo's Aqualab, an all-female research and development team. It is engineered by Lamoral Space Tech to produce a lightweight suit with Speedo's lowest water absorption and most durable water repellence. Jones insist that the suit does not give an unfair advantage to athletes and stress that the athlete's preparations are the most important aspect of performance.  REUTERS VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe    Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net    Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion    Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital    Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein   #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews  #paris2024  #parisolympicgames2024  #speedo  #swimming

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00:00All I want you to do is push off the wall and glide, do not kick, no stroke, and I want

00:28you to see how far you go, but what we want to talk about is how hydrodynamic you feel.

00:36You know, I think for me, I remember going on vacations and having people show up to

00:42test me, so I think when it comes to what water does, what all of the anti-doping groups

00:49are doing, I think as long as we have a clean sport, that's what I want to see. I'm not

00:54saying that I don't trust that, I just want to put all my trust in them, because I've

00:58seen it myself, where I was on vacation and got tested, so I know that the work is being

01:03done, I just hope that everyone is on the same page to make sure that when we have these

01:08games, they are clean, and moving forward, they are calm.

01:24You know, I think everyone gets weird when it's new, and technology is new, and if you

01:50start to see too much of an advancement, sometimes a lot of people just can't handle

01:54that, and we saw that definitely in 2009, when we had the super suits, I don't think

02:00at this point that we are doing enough coverage to match the commitment and dedication that

02:06these athletes are putting into it, they're watching their strokes, obviously sacrificing

02:10in the pool, we as a brand at Speedo just want to make sure that we are aligned with

02:14them, and want to make sure that they trust us and feel comfortable, and that's why the

02:18work has to match what their dedication is, it cannot be what the swimmer is doing, they're

02:22driving the boat, but we want to help them be fastest, and that's why they trust us.

02:48I would tell them to put a suit in the water without anyone in it, it won't move forward,

02:54so you have to train, you have to train very, very hard to make it move fast, and the suit

02:58is a technological gem, but it's the athlete who makes it move forward, so you have to

03:04work first, and then when you have the chance to be able to swim fast, you put this on

03:08that helps us, but it's a false debate, it's a false debate, it's the athlete who

03:12does the performance first.

03:18The tighter your body, the further you go.

03:24Oh, there you go.

03:26That's it.

03:44So, for most swimmers, and I tried it myself, although I'm retired, I tried it myself,

03:48and one of the things that I really realized was, I felt really light in the water, and

03:52that's kind of what the Lamerol added to the suit does, it actually holds the water

03:56out of the suit, which means that the buoyancy factor is actually kind of built into the

04:00suit, which feels great.

04:02I know I spoke to Caleb about it, I was like, what do you think?

04:04He goes, I actually really love this suit, I love the way that my hips are up, I don't

04:08have to pull them up, and I'm like, that's what we want to hear.

04:10So, it's athlete approved already, and that's why we put it to market, because the top athletes

04:16said yes.

04:18Not so interesting.

04:24But I think it's quite tight up here, compared to the rest of the suit.

04:30Sure.

04:36You know, records are made to be broken, I mean, I definitely have loved being a world

04:40record holder.

04:42If it goes a little longer, I'm not going to be upset, but no, I'm kidding.

04:46Records are meant to be broken, and so this team, I was able to give, especially for Team

04:50USA, give them the gold medals, and I literally said to them, I was like, you guys might break

04:54my record, and they were like, no, no, no.

04:56I'm like, yeah, you might.

04:58So, I'm excited for the race.

05:00No matter what, whoever wins, that's my favorite event to watch.

05:16It's interesting, because since we launched the suit, of the world records that are broken,

05:2280% have been in this suit, which is really exciting for us.

05:26And so, we're hoping to see more at this Games, but as we all know, the suit is just a small

05:32part of the athlete's race.

05:34They do so much in terms of their preparation and practice, their nutrition, everything

05:38that they do, and so we're just hoping to give them the best tool possible to achieve

05:42some records.

05:44And it's really cool.

06:08Yes, so a lot of things come into play, and athlete feedback is the most important thing

06:12And so, listening to them and how they want to feel in the water.

06:14So, they want to feel fast, they want their body position to be just right in the water,

06:20and they want it to be water repellent.

06:22And so, what we've done is taken all of those components to give them compression in all

06:26the right places, to have an internal skeleton to help their body in the right position,

06:30and to use Lamerol as our water repellent coating to give them the best water repellency

06:36out there.

06:38Yes, so a lot of things come into play, and athlete feedback is the most important thing

06:42And so, listening to them and how they want to feel in the water.

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