Swimming is man verses man in the water, wearing clothing should be a disadvantage so the less you wear the faster you go. The faster than skin materials (can they even be considered fabrics) are cheating because you have an advantage over the "ideal" naked man.
The objective of the racing swimsuit is modesty and team identification, minimising it reduces drag but the existance of the suit should always be negative.
Tennis raquets and bikes are technical artefacts, you cannot play tennis or cycle without them. As technology improves the athlete tends towards having the perfect raquet or bike. Since perfection can never be attained competition to achieve an improved implement will always continue.
The one grey area in my argument is sports shoes, we have become dependant on shoes, we wear them most of the time and our feet have become too soft to run and play football without them. Except in sand shoes improve our grip through tread, studs and spikes, as well as protecting our feet from sharp objects they also can be made to absorb impact shocks. The rules of athletics all impact absorption but prohibit anything that propels the runner in his next stride. The ideal running shoe gives optimum grip, optimum impact absorption and is as light as possible allowing the athlete to run naturally.
The manufacturers of running tracks are able to choose over what distance the track they are building will be fastest; sprinters perform best on a bouncy track while distance runners preffer a more stable suface (though not as hard as a road surface). Is there a way of making fast water for sprint swimmers?
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