"So far, all swimsuits are made from traditional materials such as Lycra, polyester, elastic or nylon. FINA will continue looking at this issue. However, to the best of our knowledge, the swimwear [has no added value in] achieving the best performances. We are not there yet."
French swim officials, in particular, complain that the sport is beginning to resemble Formula One racing. The turbulent times for swimming and the focus on technology is reminiscent of the changes in tennis and golf, when wooden rackets and old-school clubs went to the back of the garage for good, replaced by their sleeker composite cousins.
"I'm an old swimmer," said Furniss, who won a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics. "An old guy who is old school in a lot of stuff. But the reality is you look at any sport, any equipment, whether it was a bamboo pole in the pole vault going to fiberglass. . . . In swimming we're doing the same thing. We're just doing it in the water.
"At the same time, you've still got to have fast engines to put people in it. At the end of the day, they're all going to be wearing fast technology, but it's still going to come down to racing."
Hall, who will be attempting to win his third gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle, agreed, saying: "We're in the golden age of swimming, undeniably."
The golden age means that swimmers are spending 20 minutes contorting themselves into space-age suits. There is no stitching, and the pieces are bonded ultrasonically -- a patented process -- at a factory in Portugal. Low-drag panels are embedded into the fabric to compress the swimmer's body.
Speedo said the suits have 5% less drag and are 4% faster in terms of starts, sprints and turns compared with last year's model.
Eric Shanteau, a TYR swimmer who recently beat world-record-holder and former University of Texas teammate Brendan Hansen in the 200-meter breaststroke, agreed with Hall that suits are, well, suits.
"I mean, suits don't perform miracles," Shanteau said. "They can't make a non-swimmer a world record holder."
Natalie Coughlin, who broke her own world record in the 100-meter backstroke in Missouri, was not sure how much impact the suit had on her swim. But she rejected Van den Hoogenband's assertions.
"I think that's silly," Coughlin said. "It doesn't make records meaningless. . . . If that logic held, everyone would be breaking world records, and not everyone is breaking records. People like to create controversy."
There is a line in the sand, so to speak, when it comes to the suits.
"We don't even make it in sizes that fit 10- and 12-year-olds," Isaac said. "This is not to take the place of coaches or workouts. If a parent comes up to me, 'Should I be spending $500 on this to help Johnny be better?' I'd say, 'You'd be better off spending the money on lessons and coaching.' "
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lisa.dillman@latimes.com
Special correspondent Phil Hersh contributed to this report.
