Michael Phelps is not the only person in Beijing breaking records with a swimsuit. One Chinese designer claims to have made the most expensive costume ever made. Valued at more than 800,000 yuan ($117,647) the sparkling suit was unveiled this month by top Chinese model Mo Wandan on behalf of a sponsor of the Water Cube complex.

Designer Huang Yinyun says it took her and her colleagues more than a month to create this little beauty, with its shining water cube patterns made up of numerous Swarovski crystals.

"The most difficult step was to attach the expensive crystal to the high-tech swimsuit fabric," she said. "The temperature had to be strictly controlled, as the glue could have spilled at high temperature, but the crystals could have fallen off if the temperature had been too low.

"It is the first swimsuit in China made with crystals and we have applied to Guinness Book of World Records for it to be listed as the most luxurious swimsuit in the world."

The swimsuit will be kept at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne in Sweden after the Olympics. The collection features tight, rigid body suits with a unique fabric mimicking shark skin and Olympic elements like lucky clouds and bird's nest patterns.