CHARLOTTE, N.C. — During the Olympics, you will see swimmers and divers step up to the blocks and take their marks. However, what swimmers and divers wear are two very different kinds of suits.
Sara W emailed WCNC Charlotte's Verify team asking for an explanation on the different swimsuits worn by swimmers and divers.
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It's a daunting feat.
"With a sport like diving, it's such an incredibly intense and precise sport," Johnson said.
Athletes take the blocks or jump from a 10-meter plank.
"For me to get to the Olympics, I trained for 12 years and when I got to the Olympics I did less than 20 seconds to get a medal," Johnson said.
But athletes like Johnson are up for the task.
When you're watching the games, you may notice the difference in swimwear between divers and swimmers.
"When you are watching swimming and diving you will notice all the divers are in speedos and the swimmers wear briefs," Johnson said.
Those briefs are called tech suits, and didn't make their appearance until the mid-1990s.
"A tech suit the swimmer swims in is designed to make it extremely buoyant and it is hydrophobic which means it does not stretch at all or any water getting through the suit or soaking in," Johnson said.
Up until the 1996 Atlanta games, swimmers typically wore suits that covered as little skin as necessary and shaved their entire body for speed. The design has changed, though.
"This is supposed to fit me and go on my body," Beisel said.
These tech suits hug tight to the body and typically go to the knee, and can take a while to get into.
"30 minutes later I am now in my tech suit," Beisel said.
But you won't see divers in these suits, for good reason.
"If we tried to do any of that with a tech suit, you try to grab for that pike position it's going to split," Johnson said.
Johnson said if you want to do flips, you need something more flexible.
"A diver suit is going to get wet but it's still doubled-lined so it's a lot more comfortable," Johnson said.
So these two suits are very different in order to help athletes fly -- either in the air or in the water.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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