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Nagano , Feb 9 (AFP) - Dutch speed skaters have stepped up the sport's hi-tech war by wearing silicon uniform stripes that take more precious tenths of a second off times.
Speed skating has already been revolutionised by slapskates.
But Norway, Germany and Japan cried foul when the zigzag rubber patches on suits appeared Sunday, leading to a string of record-breaking 5,000m runs topped off by Gianni Romme.
Canada, the United States and Japan have also developed similar aerodynamic attachments. Japan has refrained from using suits with grooves in Olympic year to avoid clashes with rules.
Dutch coach Henk Gemser believes others will join the high-tech bandwagon as they did with slapskates.
The Dutch carried out the suit research after their flop in the 1994 Lillehammer Games, but Gemser insists everyone should benefit.
"It must be eventually offered to the whole skating family," he said.
Virtually everyone uses slapskates which have a hinge near the toe which allows the heel to lift, keeping the blade on the ice to reduce friction and increase speed.
They are worn by everyone at the Nagano Games, except for North Korea, after helping Speed Skating World Records tumble in seven of the 11 distances this season.
The Dutch stripes reduce resistance to air and were unveiled for the first speedskating event here.
Romme's two-month-old world record was broken twice by Bart Veldkamp, who switched from the Netherlands to Belgiun for these games, and Lillehammer 1,500m silver medallist Rintje Ritsma.
Romme went faster to win in 6min 22.20sec, clipping his old mark by a 8.43sec on a rink previously rated as too hard for records.
Although competitors from other teams, including the United States and Canada, knew of the stripes, they were astounded at the uniform stripes developed at Delft university and approved just two days earlier by the International Skating Union (ISU).
The Dutch team only finished testing the stripes a few weeks ago and submitted them to the ISU on Thursday.
It was too late when Norwegian coack Svein Havard Sletten found them attached to the sides of the shins of Dutch skaters. Their protests with Germany and Japan were rejected.
The governing body's executive council confirmed Monday that the zigzag stripes, made of felt-like compound and sized three centimeters long and five millimeters thick, had not violated ISU rules.
Skating suits should be free of insertions, attachments or any other equipment. They could be strung up on the sides of shins and around the head.
"We have enjoyed constant progress in speed skating over the years, including the development of the slapskate last year," ISU technical delegate Gerhard Zimmermann said. The ISU council is "fully satisfied that that there is no breach of the rules" by the stripes, he said.
ISU juror Folkert Brouwer said the stripes could come under attack at the union's general assembly this year.
But Romme, who admitted that the stripes could reduce lap time by half a second, said, "We don't know much about our suit. Maybe, it helped us."