New Suits Are Overshadowing New Faces

Last year at this time, Michael Phelps was preparing for one of the greatest individual Olympics ever, local swimmers Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff were setting themselves up to be the female stars of the Games, and U.S. swimmers had few complaints about the increasingly popular high-tech suits because Team USA had ready access to the best ones.

This year, as U.S. swimmers assemble in Indianapolis for this week's national championships, things are completely different.

A sport that reached a peak of popularity through the nightly drama Phelps provided in Beijing has endured a far bumpier story line this year.

After an international brouhaha over a photo of Phelps apparently smoking marijuana last November died down, new technical suits, not swimmers, began dominating the headlines. The long-length suits, which have been popular in swimming for years, have become so openly performance-enhancing they now threaten to make a mockery of this summer's world championships in Rome, coaches and athletes around the world say.

"It's kind of a joke," said Brendan Hansen, a four-time Olympic medal winner who is taking this year off. "It really is. Everybody I have talked to is laughing about it. . . . It's kind of changed the face of swimming, and I'm not sure anyone was ready for it."

The suits have, at the very least, magnified the usual questions a post-Olympic year brings.

The biggest surround Phelps, who took nearly six months off after the Olympics, endured a three-month ban for bad behavior and pared down and revised his program to focus on speed events. And, oh yes, he has refused to ditch his old Speedo suit in favor of the seemingly faster -- but far more controversial -- versions from other companies. Sport officials worldwide have speculated that Phelps could suffer by keeping his old suit.

Phelps's coach, Bob Bowman, said Phelps hasn't even considered switching.

For sure, he has had plenty of other changes to address. He is bypassing his old specialties, the 200 and 400 individual medleys, to tackle four speed events at these championships: the 100 and 200 freestyle and 100 and 200 butterfly. Bowman said the program reflects both Phelps's desire for new challenges as well as the recognition that his body couldn't take the same pounding after such a long break from swimming.

Bowman said Phelps's goals this week are simple: Make the U.S. world championship team.

"Somebody's going to put on a suit and drop three seconds," Bowman said. "We'll see how it goes. . . . It's very hard to predict how all of the things will shake out."

As Phelps strives to win a few qualifying spots in his old Speedo LZR Racer, Great Falls's Ziegler and Hoff, of Towson, Md., will continue their gradual comebacks from Olympic performances that failed to meet heavy pre-Games expectations. After the Olympics, Ziegler took off six months to decompress. She considered retiring at 21, but came back determined to take things more slowly.

Hoff, 20, switched last fall from longtime coach Paul Yetter to Bowman and dumped the individual medley events in which she has excelled. She and Ziegler will be facing off in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle events -- and both will be tested by former open-water sensation Chloe Sutton, 17, who is emerging as a freestyle force and trained for two years with Ziegler at the Fish, a McLean-based club.

Both Hoff and Ziegler are Speedo-sponsored athletes; neither has dabbled in the latest of the new suits.

"Everyone wants to be on an even playing field when they step on the blocks," Hoff said. "Based on everything that's happened, I honestly don't think that's going to be the case."

The issue with the ever-increasing numbers of speed suits came to a head when the sport's world governing body, FINA, spent a month considering banning 136 controversial suits -- but then changed its mind a little more than two weeks ago and let them all into the world championships.

FINA's about-face meant 400 suits from more than two dozen manufacturers are fair game for use this summer, and a few have produced remarkable drops in times. Speedo, which was at the forefront of the technology explosion with its LZR Racer, has not come up with a faster version. Many of the hottest suits have come from overseas manufacturers and are not readily available in the United States.

"Right now, there are a lot of suits that have not been used to a large degree in our country," said Eddie Reese, the coach of last year's U.S. men's Olympic team. "We're going by what we think we see . . . and anecdotes. We're in a mess. . . . I'll guarantee some kids won't be able to get what they want."

With the suits possibly skewing results and many of last year's top stars -- such as Hansen -- either taking the year off or trying to come back after long vacations, some youngsters are expected to rise. Elizabeth Pelton, 15, who trains under Yetter at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, could be one of them; she is ranked fourth in the 200 individual medley, fifth in the 200 back and entered in five events.

Pelton is among at least 37 athletes from clubs in the Washington and Baltimore regions who will compete this week. Besides Phelps and Hoff, 14 swimmers will compete under the North Baltimore Aquatic Club banner. The Curl-Burke Swim Club, meantime, is sending seven swimmers; the Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club and the Fish, four each; and the George Mason swim team, three. The Mason Makos will have one representative.

"It's always about personal bests and swimming in that environment and with those people and becoming better at it," Rockville-Montgomery Coach Dave Green said.

Dagny Knutson, 17, has climbed through the ranks despite training by herself in Minot, N.D.; USA Swimming National Team Director Mark Schubert said she could have a breakthrough meet in Indianapolis. She is entered in the 100 and 200 free and the 200 and 400 individual medley. Elizabeth Beisel, 16, is entered in six events and ranked first in the 400 medley. She also is figured to challenge some of the sport's more established stars.

"I'd like to be really excited about some of the new faces in U.S. swimming," Hansen said. "I'm feeling like this could be a huge transition year for us. With all the drama going on in the sport, that could be the most refreshing thing to see."