Those U.S. women’s swim team bodysuits are interesting, in a dominatrix kind of way

The rubberized body suit era may be over, but that could be a good thing, if these suits I see hear are now the norm. Bodysuits were banned by FINA altogether in 2009, then quickly reinstated (due to pressure from swimwear companies, ‘natch). Then in 2010 rubberized suits were banned, meaning that swimmers could still go with textile bodysuits (although in the U.S., only the women). Those don’t seem to make you go any faster, but they do kind of make you look like a villain in one of the Dark Knight movies, or some kind of dominatrix.

Here we see (from left) Dagny Knutson, Kathryn Hoff and Melissa Franklin (Allison Schmitt not shown) of the U.S. celebrating their first-place finish in the women’s 4x200m freestyle final at the world swimming championships in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, the men struggle along in their bicycle shorts. Sad, really.