Whenever I stumble upon competitive swimming on TV I always stop and watch it. I guess with today's high-tech materials it's no longer necessary to be as naked as possible. Some probably even argue that the new materials are even more slippery than bare skin. I've always liked the fact that swimmers are the most naked of all athletes. Part of it I have to admit is the homoerotic aspect of it all.
Sport is about the achievement of the human body.
Swimming puts that body on display, the way the ancient Greeks did, and I really like that for obvious reasons. But there's more to it than that. The way I see it, the more equipment an athlete employs, the more he can use technology to gain an edge over his opponents. Swimming has always been nothing but a human body and the water. It has been pure, human achievement with no technological aid whatsoever.