They didn't say, but the usual thing is porousness. Speed suits are slick, and while that's great when you're still upright, it's very bad when you've crashed and are sliding over the snow praying to Our Lady of Friction to slow you down. So the FIS regulates suits so that they can't be but so slick. As it happens, if you try to pass air through a speed suit, it's a pretty good indicator of how much it'll slow down once it hits the snow. So they test suits, and -- for reasons I really don't get -- they also sometimes test what's worn under it, body armor or whatever. Hence, the Underwear Police. As for how someone can be DQ'd from a practice run, they can't, although if the officials want to be pissy, they can do things like mess with your start number. It's just a way of saying, "We're watching, gentlemen, so don't pull this in the race or you'll have wasted a minute and thirty seconds of your life and someone else will get the medal."

posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:05 PM - reply - flag: Flag: (Choose)FunnyNewsworthyOffensiveAbusive