LZR Racer - Marketing and Results

Marketing and Results

The line was launched on 13 February 2008, and marketed as "the world's fastest swimsuit." It was the focus of Speedo's campaign for the 2008 Summer Olympics, spearheaded by Michael Phelps of the United States. They created a holographic video of Michael Phelps wearing the suit which was displayed in London, Sydney, New York, and Tokyo on the day of the suit's release. Michael Phelps exclaimed, "When I hit the water, I feel like a rocket." Within a week of its launch, three world records were broken by swimmers wearing the suit.

The Beijing Olympics proved to be an unprecedented success for the LZR Racer, with 94% of all swimming races won in the suit. 98% of all medals won at the Beijing Olympics were won by swimmers wearing the suit. In total 23 out of the 25 world records broken, were achieved by swimmers competing in the LZR suit As of 24 August 2009 (2009-08-24), 93 world records had been broken by swimmers wearing a LZR Racer, and 33 of the first 36 Olympic medals have been won wearing it.

The impressive apparent effects of wearing the suit led one of the coaches of Japan's Olympic swimming team to say "If swimmers don’t wear the LZR Racer, they won’t be able to compete in Beijing Olympics." This created a problem for the Japanese Olympic swimmers, who had exclusive contracts with swimsuit makers Mizuno, Asics, and Descente, preventing them from wearing the Speedo brand suits in the Olympics. However, the Japanese Swimming Federation subsequently decided to allow its athletes to choose their own suits freely.