So said Olympian wearing a wetsuit will swim an equivalent speed as the same Olympian without a wetsuit?’
No but what dcohss was originally talking about was what factors a person can change to make him/herself faster. The wetsuit is obv an artificial aid not allowed in regular swim competition. The factors are technique and swim-specific fitness.
In my experience from watching literally 1000s of people try to swim, pulling POWER is clearly the biggest factor in any person’s speed. All those 50s and 100s can improve this power. Some people will improve a lot and some only a moderate amount but all can improve to some degree.
Also, just for the record, back in the 1920s, Johnny Weismuller swam 100 LCM in 57.0 with his head out of the water and no flip turn. This is the eqv of going around 50 flat for 100 scy with head out of water and no flip turns, e.g. terrible technique by today’s standards. Clearly Weismuller had a ton of pulling power. From swimming he went on to star as “Tarzan” in the American movies.
Weissmuller’s form is insanity: