The Speedo LZR Racer Suit is a high-end, body-length swimsuit that was launched on

February 13, 2008. When 17 world records fell at the December 2008 European Short Course

Championships in Croatia, many believed a modification in the rules surrounding swim-suits was necessary. The FINA Congress, the international governing board for swimming, banned the LZR Racer and all other body-length swimsuits from competition effective January 2010. In a statement to the public, FINA defended its position with the following statement: “FINA wishes to recall the main and core principle that swimming is a sport essentially based on the physical performance of the athlete” (BBC Sport, March 14, 2009).

Luke Johnson, a freelance journalist, wonders if the decision made by FINA has statistical backing. He conducts an experiment with the local university’s Division I swim team. He times 10 of the swimmers swimming the 50-meter breaststroke in his/her bathing suit and then retests them while wearing the LZR Racer. A portion of the data is shown in the accompanying table. The entire data set, labeled LZR_Racer, can be found on the text website.

In a report, use the sample information to:

1. Determine whether the LZR Racer significantly improves swimmers’ times at the 5% significance level. Assume that swim time differences are normally distributed.

2. Comment on whether the data appear to support FINA’s decision.

Transcribed Image Text:

Swimmer Time in Bathing Suit Time in LZR Racer 1 27.64 27.45 2 27.97 28.06 10 38.08 37.93