“I think I had the same kind of fears that anyone coming out has, particularly since it was 24 years ago, but I think the environment actually made it worse,” Hayes said. “When you’re in an athletic environment, when you live in that environment year-round, there’s just not a comfort level of coming out and sharing that kind of information with people.”

Should he win, Mitcham will join the very small club of openly gay Olympic gold medalists. But as significant as that moment would be for gay athletes everywhere, Mitcham has only one goal in mind. “I just want to be known as the Australian diver who did really well at the Olympics,” he says. “It’s everybody else who thinks it’s special when homosexuality and elite sport go together.”

The personal stories are always the most compelling aspect of the Olympics. Well, that and hot jocks stuffed into outfits that show off their muscled assets. But stick with me, here.

The race is on to suit up swimmers for the Beijing Summer Games.

That’s good news for competitors squeezed into Speedo’s LZR Racer, who have broken 38 world records since its introduction in February, and bad news for fans of the hunk factor found at every Olympics.

Speedo’s technological marvel, though, is – excuse the pun – causing waves in the swimming world, dividing those who favor the suit and the alleged two percent advantage it delivers against those who argue the application of thin polyurethane panels on the Racer breaks the rules.

For years, the trend was to make swimsuits that covered as little skin as possible - high-cut legs and wide-open backs for women, tiny boomerang-shaped numbers for men. But allowing bodysuits before the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2000 reversed that trend, increasing the potential for new technology.

For its work on the LZR Racer, Speedo conducted tests on a host of materials with NASA wind tunnels used to determine surface friction on spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The swimsuit features a "compression zone" around the torso and other parts of the body, allowing swimmers to conserve energy by reducing muscle and skin vibration.

Michael Phelps (photo right) wears the Racer; in fact, he was one of the Olympians that helped roll it out in February. French swimmer Alain Bernard (photo above) also sports the suit. Both cases highlight my argument that although the Racer makes swimmers faster, it makes them a whole lot less sexy.

If we can’t enjoy – and by enjoy, I mean see – the bulges and ripples that make men’s swimming events in the Olympics so sexy, then what’s the point?

A handful of attractive members of the U.S. Olympic team modeled the new Ralph Lauren designed clothing line for the upcoming Olympics on Tuesday. The photo session in New York provided the first public public peek at the new threads.

In a word: preppy.

In early April, Ralph Lauren Polo announced an agreement to outfit the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams and hinted that they were taking things in a decidedly Polo way. On Tuesday, they offered boxer Deontay Wilder, rower Giuseppe Lanzone (photo above) and Brianna Glenn, a track and field athlete, in the new clothes.

The looks included village wear and an outfit for the closing ceremonies. What the athletes will wear for the opening ceremonies isn’t expected to be unveiled until the day of the event.

UPDATE: At the end of the post.

In a nod that swimming events during the Summer Olympics will be, well, less revealing, Speedo this week introduced its LZR Racer, an overpriced and colorless unitard swimsuit that might make Michael Phelps faster but certainly also makes him look a whole lot less sexy.

And that’s a shame.

Phelps, expected to make a run for seven golds in the Beijing Olympics, helped unveil the suit, pronounced Laser Racer, during a press conference Tuesday. Phelps gets a $1 million bonus from Speedo if he wins those seven golds, a record held by Mark Spitz.

Speedo claims the suit has 10 percent less drag than the Fastskin it launched before the 2004 Olympics. It features three pieces instead of 30, with the seams ultrasonically welded together instead of sewn. No doubt some of the reduction in drag comes from the reduction in package protrusions from the male swimmers who wear it, an observation made by the reader of a USA Today story about the product:

Apparently this suit turns its wearer into an anatomically neutral Ken doll. Lord.

Speedo is selling a basic version for us non-Olympians on its Web site, where advance orders are being taken for $550. Here’s hoping members of the Atlanta Rainbow Trout stay firmly tucked in their red Speedos.

The New York Times dissed the suit in a piece this morning, while gay blog Kenneth in the (212) also weighed in. Thanks to the boys at Lab Monkey Design for alerting us.

UPDATE: Our friends at Outsports.com also took notice of the new one-piece. Their conclusion:

The all-body swimsuit is one of the great abominations ever invented by man.

And thanks to Jim Buzinski, one of the site's co-founders, for digging up a photo of Phelps that reminds us why use of the swimming unitard is such a bad thing.