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Olympic Success can Hinge on Uniform DesignJapan is sending more than 300 athletes and officals to the Athens Olympics, the highest number since the Tokyo Olympiad. Head coach Tomiaki Fukuda says Japan is aiming at 10 gold medals and 24-25 medals overall for the entire Olympics.
These days, the functionality and high-tech design of an athlete's uniform play a big part in the final result, especially in swimming and track and field. In an Olympic event, only 0.01 second or one centimeter can make the difference between a gold medal and nothing at all.
"The trend toward sleek, high-tech uniforms started at the 1972 Games," said sports journalist Masayuki Tamaki. "Swimming has been the most competitive when it comes to new-look designs. Nowadays, uniform manufacturers are all competing with each other to come up with better designs for swimsuits."
Japanese Olympic athletes used to all wear the same style, but that has changed this year. Individual athletes can choose their own designs.
For Athens, swimsuits have been made by Mizuno, Desanto and Asics. Mizuno's swimsuit has tiny protuberances on a part of the breast and shoulder for women that help reduce the resistance of water by up to 3%.
For its new line of volleyball uniforms, Mizuno used a computer to analyze the movements of players, especially during an attacking move. The new uniforms - available in
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