# When did the Olympics get nekkid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123 "2004-08-29T20:06:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/21 "2004-08-29T22:13:14Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > I think some of them have decided some swimsuits that cover a lot of flesh reduce drag somehow, so they wear 'em. It’s easier than shaving their legs. ---
**Author:** ![Grundlepuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Grundlepuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grundlepuck)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/22 "2004-08-29T23:47:12Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > As I understand it, with swimming it’s not a fashion thing, but how much resistance a given suit creates for its wearer. If swimmers and their coaches were convinced that wearing long feather boas reduced drag in the water, I’m sure they’d all be wearing long feather boas as they swim. I think some of them have decided some swimsuits that cover a lot of flesh reduce drag somehow, so they wear 'em. I’m sure if they thought nudity worked, they’d be nude, or as close to it as morality and the law permit. It’s not just swimmers – it is speed typists too. I’m wearing a full bodysuit right now. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/23 "2004-08-30T00:24:54Z")
> [@Grundlepuck](#): > > It’s not just swimmers – it is speed typists too. I’m wearing a full bodysuit right now. Yeah, but unless you’re also using a Dvorak keyboard, it’s pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Grundlepuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Grundlepuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grundlepuck)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/24 "2004-08-30T00:35:03Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > Yeah, but unless you’re also using a Dvorak keyboard, it’s pointless. Bah – you kids today with your fancy keyboards and aerodynamic typing helmets. When will you learn it’s not about flashy technology – it is about the _human spirit_. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/25 "2004-08-30T00:42:51Z")
You know what I found amazing? How many of the guys running track were…er… letting it all hang out. And I mean ALL. Some of those guys looked like they were just waiting to pose for Playgirl, judging by how well their dangly bits were dangling. And flopping as they ran. With the clingy Lycra making sure that we could see the outline of EVERYTHING. Including whether they dress right or left. Or just stuff it all in the middle. Oy. It just seems somehow uncomfortable and impractical. Of course, I’m not complaining about the views, mind you, just wondering how it wouldn’t hurt to have it all flapping around when you’re running down the track. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/26 "2004-08-30T00:49:02Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > As I understand it, with swimming it’s not a fashion thing, but how much resistance a given suit creates for its wearer. If swimmers and their coaches were convinced that wearing long feather boas reduced drag in the water, I’m sure they’d all be wearing long feather boas as they swim. I think some of them have decided some swimsuits that cover a lot of flesh reduce drag somehow, so they wear 'em. I’m sure if they thought nudity worked, they’d be nude, or as close to it as morality and the law permit. I seem to recall hearing about one guy in a unter-olympics competition who’s swimming trunks came off as he was swimming; he went on to win the race, but was disqualified. It seems unfair. As he put it “If it had been backstroke, I would have stopped.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/27 "2004-08-30T02:45:07Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > I seem to recall hearing about one guy in a unter-olympics competition who’s swimming trunks came off as he was swimming; he went on to win the race, but was disqualified. It seems unfair. As he put it “If it had been backstroke, I would have stopped.” Which begs the question, would the increased aerodynamic efficiency of not wearing any clothes, i.e, The Naked Advantage ™ been offset by penis drag? Why have there been no studies conducted here? I believe there are quite a few woman scientists willing and able to subject this subject to intensive scrutiny. Prolly some guy scientists as well. Waiting for Otto to declare himself a scientist ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/28 "2004-08-30T05:45:33Z")
I’m never going to conduct or search for one of those studies, but I’d guess being naked might not make much difference but probably couldn’t help. Perhaps it would if your wang acted as a rudder… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/29 "2004-08-30T07:41:55Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > penis drag You mean like [this](http://www.stockphotography.co.uk/Store/App/Zoom.asp?ProdID=11626)? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/30 "2004-08-30T13:11:31Z")
For those of you dissappointed in the original olympics having only naked men, fear not: I’m pretty sure there were lots of nubile naked young women roaming all over the place, nto as competitors, but as various odd jobs and eye candy. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/31 "2004-08-30T13:31:19Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > For those of you dissappointed in the original olympics having only naked men, fear not: I’m pretty sure there were lots of nubile naked young women roaming all over the place, nto as competitors, but as various odd jobs and eye candy. In ancient Greece? Not so sure it’d be naked women used as eye candy… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/32 "2004-08-30T13:37:48Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > You want eye candy, just wait for the Winter Games and those male speed skaters. Sure, they are all covered up, but those suits look like they are body paint, not clothing. As I heard it put “You can almost tell what religion the guys are!” Stupid sexy Flanders! ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/33 "2004-08-30T15:26:26Z")
I, for one, welcome our nude Olympic overlords. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/34 "2004-08-30T16:43:40Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yes, unfortunately…I made the comment about the absolutely unfair and sexist differences between the men’s beach volleyball outfits and the women’s in another thread. Yeah, that’s fucked up, and not because it’s unfair to straight women and gay men. It’s just so… weird… that they can’t choose their attire, and that the rules for the genders are so different. Most male beach volleyball players want to play bare-chested, but aren’t allowed to. Strange. Oh, and **smiling bandit**? No there weren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/35 "2004-08-30T22:07:03Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yes, unfortunately…I made the comment about the absolutely unfair and sexist differences between the men’s beach volleyball outfits and the women’s in another thread. > > If the straight boys and lesbians get to salivate over women in bikinis, the straight women and gay men should get equal time with the men in Speedos! [Australia’s beach volleyballers call for topless (male) competitors (and male go-go dancers.)](http://smh.com.au/olympics/articles/2004/08/31/1093852188726.html) I, for one, support their call for, uhh, equality. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/36 "2004-08-30T23:22:10Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Is it just me, or did it seem like the men were wearing a lot more, relatively. When I saw the photos of the Aussie swimmer guy in the pool covered head to toe in a full-body suit, I thought “WTF??? Where’s the little Speedo?” First person to answer “in his suit!” gets punched on the arm. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/37 "2004-08-31T02:20:58Z")
Y’know, thanks to this thread, the most enduring image I have of the Olympics is a bunch of guys wearing a full-body lycra suits and aerodynamic helmets kinda like the one worn by the [Rocketeer](http://www.filmcan.hpg.ig.com.br/posters/Rocketeer.jpg), all of them typing furiously at Dvorak keyboards. Thanks a lot, people. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/38 "2004-09-02T05:30:41Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > For those of you dissappointed in the original olympics having only naked men, fear not: I’m pretty sure there were lots of nubile naked young women roaming all over the place, not as competitors, but as various odd jobs and eye candy. Actually, women were not only not allowed to compete, they were not allowed to attend (there may have been exceptions at some points in time for pre-pubescent girls). * * * With the ancient Olympics, not only was there the ‘olympic spirit’ for sport, but, foreign to most modern people’s way of thinking, there was a love for the perfect human form in all its natural and naked glory, and, especially for the male form (especially by other men). [Oh yeah, the injurious violence and militarism of the ancient games would tend to stand out as odd from the modern perspective.] Yes, the men were oiled, but then they were ‘sanded’ by a light clay powder. They didn’t glisten. You’ll have to alter your mental images on that one. The more of the human form that the modern Olympics show (whether lycra clad or naked), the more it recaptures the original Olympic spirit. My surprise was about seven years ago when I realized that guys were going commando in their wrestling singlets. If there was a sport that one would think that a cup would be mandatory, you’d think wrestling would be it. With regard to the sprinters and genital flapping… it seems that the flapping would actually help to increase speed. That is because trying to “lock it down” would cause it to get in the way of the powerful and thick thigh muscles modern sprinters tend to have. Long distance runners tend to wear shorts. \ So, male beach volleyballers have to wear shorts and a tank top while male divers can wear a sliver of lycra? Odd. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![CurlyD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@CurlyD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurlyD)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/39 "2004-09-03T01:16:53Z")
**Evil Captor** , I volunteer to take part in the study as a researcher. A fella in Goose Creek, SC, told me the difference between “naked” and “nekkid.” “Naked” means you got no clothes on. “Nekkid” means you got no clothes on and yer up to sumpin. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123/40 "2004-09-03T01:50:17Z")
Well, male divers have worn Speedos for a long time. Most of the male divers I saw in this Olympics were kind of skinny, but Despatie was an Adonis. I say that as a straight guy. Lord, he made the other guys look awful underdeveloped. :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-olympics-get-nekkid/262123.md?page=3)