Olympics swimsuit controversy back in court

In February, Speedo unveiled its next generation of suit, the ballyhooed LZR Racer crafted with help from NASA. Since then, 51 worlds records have been broken or equaled — 47 by swimmers wearing the LZR.

TYR came up with its own new suit, the Tracer Rise, that the company claims can improve performance even more than Speedo’s more publicized attire. Other companies have struggled to keep up, with Nike going so far as to let its swimmers wear Speedo suits at the U.S. Olympic trials without fear of breaking their contract.

Vendt, who trains with Speedo-sponsored swimmers such as Michael Phelps and Peter Vanderkaay in Ann Arbor, Mich., notified TYR on Jan. 14 that he would invoking the clause in his contract that allowed him to wear another company’s suit while still remaining under contract to TYR, according to the lawsuit.

It says TYR responding by terminating its deal with Vendt three days later. The swimmer claims he is still entitled to his base salary of $80,000 a year from TYR.

In addition, Vendt claims slander against his former endorser — specifically, comments made by Hilton, the company’s attorney. A day before the start of the Olympic trials, Hilton told The Associated Press that Vendt was trying to get maximum benefit from both swimsuit companies.

“He wanted to be paid by TYR but be able to wear the Speedo suit,” the attorney said. “Erik Vendt did not want to give up the money.”

Vendt claims those allegations, and other comments by Hilton, have tarnished his reputation and made it impossible for him to land other endorsement deals leading up to what figures to be his final Olympics.

“Hilton’s words were slanderous because they tend to injure Vendt in his business as a professional swimmer by imputing to Vendt that he is disloyal to a sponsor, greedy, unconcerned about fulfilling contractual obligations, dishonest, and illogical,” the lawsuit says.

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