While Dara Torres may not have been your typical underdog going into the US Swimming Olympic Trials, she certainly had the crowd and the media buzzing with her performances. Torres already has nine Olympic medals (4 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze) to her name and was seeded #1 in the 50 meter freestyle and 6th in the 100 meter freestyle going into the meet. Hardly an underdog right?
In the Sydney 2000 Games Torres was the oldest American to win a gold medal in swimming in US Olympic history - at the age of 33. Imagine winning an Olympic gold in swimming at age 41! That's what she aims to do in China next month. Plus she will be the first American to swim in five Olympics, having competed and medaled in Los Angeles (1984), Seoul (1988), Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000).
Not only did Torres win both the 100 and 50 meter freestyle finals at the 2008 US Olympic trials, she also broke the American record in the 50 meter race twice (in both the semi-final and final). The announcers on TV said she first broke the record in the 50 when she was 15 (at least that's what I think I heard - it could have been 19)!
Comparing her times at the Olympic qualifier to the top times on the Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA.org) site, Torres is ranked #5 in the world in the 50 and would rank approximately #7 in the 100. Her 'oldest' competitor in the top 5 rankings is 29. Most of her competitors are in their early 20's.
Even though I'll be cheering for my fellow Canadians, I'll also be cheering for Dara Torres to win gold at 41. By going after her dreams in a sport dominated by those in their twenties, Torres shows us all that it's not to late for us to go after our dreams.
For more US Olympic trial swimming results visit: USA Swimming.
