Dana Torres 41-year-old mother makes FIFTH Olympics--in swimming

[underpants]

Oh and she WON the 50M freestyle last night
http://www.insidebayarea.com/olympics/ci_9803553
The trials came to a close Sunday in fitting fashion when Dara Torres won the women's 50 freestyle in 24.25 seconds, bettering the American record she set the day before. Former Cal star Jessica Hardy finished second in 24.82 to add another event to her Olympic program, which includes the 100 breaststroke and 400 freestyle relay.



Dara Torres Qualifies For 5th Olympic Games
Dana Torres, mother of a 2-year-old girl, looked like a kid again herself -- waving an American flag on the pool deck -- in making an unprecedented fifth Olympic team, winning the 100-meter freestyle in 53.78 seconds at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials. Natalie Coughlin, the U.S.-record holder, was second in 53.83.

She's 41 years old, has a two-year-old daughter, and won her first Olympic medal, a relay gold, in 1984. Torres is training to make the 2008 US Olympic team, but it's not some casual attempt to relive the good old days: Torres set the American record in the 50-meter freestyle just a few months ago. As the photo above attests, part of Torres' continuing success is due to her training regimen.

http://www.huliq.com/63559/dara-torres-qualifies-5th-olympic-games

[Drum]

1. Brava!

:thumbsup: from another forty-something.

[underpants]

5. Yeah me too

as I posted below I took up swimming at the end of May and I have a complete awe for these athletes in general but her story is incredible.

[Renew Deal]

2. I saw her qualifying race.

This is her 5th and she missed two Olympics, so she could have potentially made 7 of them. AMAZING!!! And most amazing is she won. :wow: I'll certainly be rooting for her in Beijing.

Think about this... Her first Olympics included West Germany while East Germany, and the Soviet Union sat it out.

[underpants]

4. That is amazing

I have been swimming the last month and half (rehabbing achilles) and it is amazingly hard. Hard to do just cranking out 16 laps every morning let alone THAT.

Just astonishing.

There has to be some genetics involved here but also the training and nutrition advances make this sort of thing possible.

[Not Me]

3. This is so inspiring.

Good for her!

[Stinky The Clown]

6. A big part of me is saying BRAVA!!!! ............. a small part of me is asking .......

..... if shell become yet another Repubican tool who becomes a spokesmodel for the American version of the Aryan race.

I know ..... I have ***NO*** basis for even thinking that - absolutely none - and I truly **DO** admire her accomplishments. But it is the result of living in the world in which I find myself that little joy can be found that doesn't beg such questions.

[hwmnbn]

10. Her last name is Torres ....

which may mitigate whatever Aryan claims are made.

In the few interviews I've seen, she sounds like a down-to-earth person with no apparent political leanings.

I myself will be rooting for her to cap off this incredible story and her career with more Olympic Gold. It's already a great story.



BTW, have you seen the abs on this woman?!? WOW!!!

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I agree with you ..........

..... but don't take "aryan" literally. That's why I put it in quotes. The American version is very different than the Hitlerian version.

What I agree about is that she is a remarkable woman and I will be pulling for her as well. She clearly has the determination to win and the physical gifts that could make it possible on the north side of age 40.

[Dreamer Tatum]

15. If you agree you have no basis to defame her....then DON'T.

Pathetic thing to say about someone just trying to do her best.

[Stinky The Clown]

18. Can the fake outrage

I said what I said because it is what I feel. Deal with it. Quitcher fucking yelling at me.

[Dreamer Tatum]

19. It's funny you said that, because I was wondering whether you'd become a right wing shill.

I mean, I KNOW I have no basis to think that, but in this day and age...you just don't know.

I hope I'm wrong, of course. I just have to wonder.


:eyes:

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Ohyer soooooo ****cute**** :::::cheek pinch::::::::

and that eye roll thingie ..... very expressive.

Go fight a repubican and stop worrying about whatever I think. I said what I said.

[ourbluenation]

16. come on now...i think a du break migh be in order.

peace

[KharmaTrain]

7. The Pride Of Paletine, IL

There are a lot of people really pulling for here around here. A truly inspiring story and a real down-to-earth person. Best of luck, Dana! Here's hoping you bring home the gold in August, the White Sox (and, OK, why not the Cubbies) make it to the World Series in October and our Junior Senator being elected President in November!!

[Skittles]

20. I remember Paletine when I was in high school

they had a drive-in theater :D

[Monk06]

8. That baby's quite the giggle !!

[SpiralHawk]

9. Bravissima !

[patriotvoice]

11. Wow. My 25m time is only 4 seconds less than her 50m!

Last Friday, I swam 25m in 20 seconds, which is my best recorded time. Granted, because this was part of my lifeguard recertification I had to swim with heads-up freestyle, I was not using the most efficient form, but she's swimming about twice as fast as I do! Just... wow!

(I also swam a continuous 1 mile, in a luxurious, world-record-this-is-not 80 minutes, or about 4.5 minutes per 100 yards.)

[underpants]

13. Cranking it out are you?

as posted above (twice) I have been pulling 16 laps in a 25M pool for the last 7 weeks or so.

That is basically what I have time for in the morning. GREAT workout I really love it but it is time to hit the bricks and get ready for three marathons (Nov--March 09-May 09). I take anywhere from 22 to 25 minutes to do the 800-the cold water is must faster than the warm water pool I usually swim in. I switch between crawl and backstroke per length-I enjoy breathing I really really do.

[patriotvoice]

14. Well, I'm not exactly fluid dynamic:

I'm 23" shoulder-to-shoulder and 215#, so I drag and sink with any stroke. I prefer side stroke and back stroke, but my distance swimming is open water so I really would like to perfect trudgeon for better sighting.

Good luck on your marathons! 22 min @ 800m is a great time!

[Binka]

21. Pants I Had No Idea You Were A Runner! I Took Up Swimming After An Injury Before Running Napa

I was hit by a car while riding my bike home after a training run. I got an aqua jogger and used it for four months before I could run again. I got a fractured pelvis in the accident. My sister lives around the corner and she has a sweet lap pool. When I could run again, I started swimming laps for fun and it was the best cross training ever. I have run the Napa marathon 4 times and my best time 3:27:17 was after the accident. Swimming rocks GO Dana!

I was a competitive swimmer in my teens, backstroke was my game, and the love of the water has never left my bones. My 7 year old is a total fish, I taught her to swim when she was 1, look for her in the 2020 Olympics. Her name is Peyton Krzyzek!

[taught_me_patience]

17. Seems a bit suspicious

that someone who is 41 can swim the fastest of her career. No training regimen taht I know if can do that.

[eridani]

22. Pregnancy leads to big increases in vascularization in many women

That tends to make post-pregnancy athletic performances a lot better.

[girl gone mad]

24. Looks reasonable to me.

She's kept her body in top shape over the years and so has been able to focus almost entirely on perfecting her technique, which is measurably better than most other swimmers' (just like Tiger Woods's golf swing is better than most golfers').

It's possible she's juicing, but I wouldn't automatically make that assumption.

[tkmorris]

25. Perhaps, but she seeks out blood tests

She wants to, and does, prove that she is doing it with pure training, no drugs of any kind. Let me see if I can dig up a link.

[tkmorris]

26. Try this one

"Despite evidence that older athletes can remain competitive longer than many imagine, Torres’s achievements have provoked consistent rumors that she must be doping. These began at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and have been so persistent in Torres’s latest comeback that last September Torres flew to Colorado Springs, Colo., to meet with Travis T. Tygart, C.E.O. of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Tygart acknowledges that since the high-profile steroid scandals involving Barry Bonds and Marion Jones, the onus has fallen on athletes to prove that they’re clean, and that that’s nearly impossible to do. “Can U.S.A.D.A. give Dara or some other athlete the stamp of cleanliness?” Tygart asks. “No, the science isn’t there yet.” Every athlete who is training for the Olympics is subject to testing at any time, in or out of competition. But Tygart was able to offer Torres the chance to volunteer for a pilot program that tests more broadly blood and urine for signs of doping and presumably will catch a much higher percentage of dirty athletes. Torres said yes. (Jones, among others, passed less-sophisticated U.S.A.D.A. tests while using performance-enhancing drugs.) Tygart has not yet released any data on Torres’s testing. But he says the fact she volunteered is significant. “I think a dirty athlete would be crazy to volunteer for this program,” he told me. He was also heartened that Torres did not ask how the pilot’s protocols worked or what drugs they would be looking for."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/magazine/29torres-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all