Former Olympian sees irony in swimsuit lawsuit

Steve Furniss knows all about choice and not-so-subtle Olympic-sized pressure.

It was 1976 at the Summer Games in Montreal, and Furniss was preparing for the 400-meter individual medley. One of the coaches, George Haines, wanted to speak to him after a team meeting before the evening program of finals, and Furniss could tell the legend was uncomfortable.

” ‘I don’t know if this is the right time, but I’ve been asked to deliver you a message,’ ” Furniss said, recalling Haines’ words. “I said, ‘Oh really, what’s that?’ He said, ‘Well, what suit you put on tonight might determine your future employment.’ ”

The implication was unnecessary. Furniss wore Speedo that night, as previously planned.

There’s no shortage of irony, on many levels, considering that 32 years later, Furniss is suing Speedo.

More accurately, the company that the Olympian founded, TYR Sport, of Huntington Beach, filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court this month against the parent company of Speedo, USA Swimming and head coach Mark Schubert, alleging a conspiracy to choke off competition. The lawsuit has shaken the swim world in a high-profile Olympic year.

“Things were probably a little different but in some respects there are probably some parallels,” Furniss said, making his first extended comments about the lawsuit in an interview this week with The Times. “We’re in a age of professionalism today, so that’s a fundamental difference.”

Furniss, accompanied by his attorney, Larry Hilton, said this isn’t a dispute about the merits of Speedo’s high-tech LZR Racer, which has accounted for the onslaught of world records since mid-February. TYR’s offering is the Tracer Rise.

Perhaps, for TYR, it’s almost a legal equivalent of standing up and shouting in a crowded classroom after having your raised hand ignored for months.

“The aspect of getting our technology exposed is more challenging, is a greater challenge than perhaps the technology itself,” Furniss said.

Court documents cited numerous reports of Schubert’s enthusiastic advocacy of the Speedo suit and called him a “paid spokesperson for Speedo.”

Whether that’s the case presently is unclear, but Schubert once had a financial arrangement with Speedo, according to an SEC filing in 2002 in Warnaco bankruptcy proceedings. Warnaco is the parent company of Speedo.

Schubert was hardly alone – the contracts listed under the heading of athlete/coach agreements looked like a who’s who of American swimming. No specific dollar figures were listed.

“They did disclose at that time they had a contract with Mark Schubert. They don’t pay somebody a lot of money to say things that nobody listens to,” said Hilton. “There’s a reason that they pay Mark Schubert money and I think that speaks for itself.”

He referenced an old iconic TV commercial.

“In a lot of ways, Mark Schubert is like EF Hutton,” Hilton said. “I think that reflects the reality. He’s the head coach of the Olympic team and he has this air of independence. When he speaks, people listen.”

Two former TYR pitchmen now are wearing Speedo, distance stars Larsen Jensen and Erik Vendt. TYR sued Vendt, a two-time Olympian, for breach of contract. Vendt’s representatives have denied that claim and his agent Evan Morgenstein said he would not do business with TYR in the future.

“It wasn’t a situation where Erik decided he wanted to wear the Speedo and he felt it was better and came to us and wanted to be let out of his contract,” Hilton said. “He wanted to stay under contract and continue to be paid by TYR while he was wearing the Speedo suit.”

Vendt’s agent and lawyer were unavailable for comment.

“That’s been conspicuously missing from the reporting,” Hilton said. “We offered to do a walk-away deal with Erik more than a month before this lawsuit was filed.”

 lisa.dillman@latimes.com