Would world class female swimmers log better times if they swam topless?

Doubtful. One of the defining characteristics of boobs is floppiness, which causes drag in the water . . . um . . . but yeah, swimsuits streamline the figure and just generally make you sleeker in the water. I’d assume so anyway . . . I’m female, but not a swimmer.

Nipple drag alone would take away any advantage.

Floppiness and nipple drag, hummm, I think that is probably true that those factors would slow down a swimmer.
The tight smooth spandex or whatever it is that their suits are made of probably help with any potential boob issues, rather than hinder.

No. The undulating fat and skin would create massive amounts of additional drag. It would slow them down drastically.
What would improve their speed is a full body swimsuit that prevents their skin from being deformed by the water at all. That is why dolphins are such fast swimmers. Their surface is absolutely rigid.

Ok people. Whose side are you on?

Someone, please, make the case for nudity.

Hey. I know. How about if we add an aesthetic component to the race?

@wundayatta – I will admit, I was happy when they banned the full-body suits for the men swimmers – I’m enjoying the benefits of that decision right now, staring at the half-naked US men’s relay team onscreen at the London games.

It’s tough to tell, but since men like to lead the way so much, why don’t we have them swim nude, and see if their bits and two pieces slow them down or speed them up, and then extrapolate from there?

Oh come on, @Aethelflaed! Who wants to look at naked men swimming? I’m sure if you really want, you can find plenty of volunteers, but most of the rest of the world is much more interested in women’t bodies. They are, after all, the good looking ones. Most women would agree.

@wundayatta – uhhhh, disagree.

@ragingloli nailed it. Any benefit from the fat adding buoyancy would be rendered utterly useless from the drag they’d create.

The skinny flat chested 34A ladies would beat the well endowed 38DD any day.

@efritz You may well disagree. But you are but one person. There have been studies on this topic. Most people think women’s bodies are more beautiful, both men and women. Obviously some men and women think men’s bodies are more beautiful, but they are in a distinct minority. Interesting, isn’t it? I found it interesting to discover that most women would rather look at a naked woman than a naked man. Curves, I guess.

@wundayatta – that’s possible. There’s also a kind of double-standard where men are concerned – it’s much easier for a woman to be bi/curious than a man, where there are certain taboos and standards for men. For instance, a man is considered gay if he indicates any interest in other men, when he could be slightly bi instead. That’s a whole other topic though. . .

They banned the full body suits for men? Why? I bet they are glad.

I was watching swimming last night and a friend of mine kept commenting on how all the female swimmers look like men. They do seem to be much more testosteroned than years ago.

As for the side discussion, I think the female body is more beautiful than the male body. I assume it has something to do with conditioning, we see more naked women in general, but maybe not? Maybe it is like symmetry, we just are pulled towards it, seemingly innately.

@wundayatta If there are studies, you should link to them. In the mean time, if men are so interested in women’s successful performance in sports, they should probably be the ones to strip first, lest we think that this is really just a ploy for men to see some titties without actually valuing women’s sports.

@Aethelflaed Can’t it be both? lol

I suspect that women swim faster in the swim suits, as they are streamlined and flatten out any curves they have. Same concept as why they wear two caps, one for hair, the other for goggle edges and to flatten out any bumps. You could make an argument for the more flat chested women being faster topless, but I still have my doubts. Can’t imagine we’ll see a study anytime soon to confirm or debunk this though.

Gotcha, @Aethelflaed!

Most of them have tiny tits anyway, so they’d be more or less the same as the men, no marked difference.
Women sprinters with large baps would gain a significant advantage however, especially in a photo finish.

@ucme women sprinters with big boobs are really at a disadvantage.
Have you ever been slapped on the chin by your own boob? It’s not pretty, that is why they wear those sports bras. A bigger breasted woman needs the heavy duty suspension variety of sports bra..

They also put you off balance and the added weight negatively affects acceleration and cornering.

@wilma Have you ever been slapped on the chin by your own boob? It’s not pretty ...

it sounds pretty to me….

@wilma Well yes, that’s a gimme, I was just kidding around you see.
Of course large breasts don’t seem to hinder Serena Williams, those puppies are all over the place.

I don’t know but would like to support the experiment.