Revolutionary Swimsuit Built For Speed

Once, swimsuits were built for modesty. And then, possibly, for a lack of modesty.

Now there is a new type of suit is built for one thing - speed, CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports.

Possibly … too much speed.

"As soon as you dive in the first time, it is unbelievable," said Ross Davenport, a member of the British Swim Team. "You can't believe the times you're doing in training. In the past it was probably a half-second slower per fifty, so massive, massive gains.

Every time you swim a 50-meter length of the pool you're a half-second quicker?" Phillips asked.

"You'd probably be a half-second, and it would be easier as well," he said.

So easy, Speedo's new racing suit has been called technological doping - like steroids you wear on the outside. Developed through tank-testing - and even using a NASA wind tunnel - the suit compresses the swimmer's body into a more streamlined shape uses thin silicon panels to make it more slippery ... so slippery it's made the biggest splash in the history of the sport.

Since it was introduced in February, swimmers wearing it have broken 38 world records. Records do often fall in an Olympic year, when athletes hit top form, but this kind of turnaround is ridiculous.

The suit is so revolutionary it has spawned other kinds of suits. Not the kind you find in the pool - the kind you use in court. It's spawned lawsuits.

As other manufacturers have been scrambling to develop new suits able to compete with Speedo's, one - California-based Tyr - is even suing, saying Speedo's access to top swimmers has given it an unfair advantage.

"Tyr's goal is to have the swimmers make the decision about which suit is better in the pool," said Tyr lawyer Larry Hilton. "We just want a fair shake."

It may be too late. Speedo may have already won the race inside swimmers' heads.

"If you have a rival brand where no world records have been set, you might not, might not have that arrogance about you," Davenport said.

"Arrogance counts?" Phillips asked.

"Definitely. You need a little bit of arrogance," Davenport said.

The question now is who is really the winner? The swimmer in the suit … or the suit on the swimmer?