41-Year Old Mother To Compete In Beijing

The newest episode of ESPN's E:60, originally airing on May 6, included a segment featuring Olympic swimmer Dara Torres. (The link of the clip is below.) The first Olympic Games she competed in was the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. She has won a total of 9 medals in 4 Olympics, retiring after the games in 2000. After becoming pregnant in 2006, she began swimming again, just to get back in shape. Quickly, the middle-aged men who were in the pool with her wanted to race her, even though she was obviously pregnant, and the competitive juices started flowing for Dara. Remarkably, after giving birth to her daughter and not competing since 2000, she entered last year's Nationals. There, Dara set a new American record for the 50 meter freestyle at the age of 40, breaking her own previous record. She will be competing in July at the American Olympic qualifiers in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyle events.

However, in an era of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, many cynics are already assuming that Dara is doping. Yet she has already gone to such lengths as personally meet with the CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency to find a way to test as vigorously as possible in order to combat allegations of cheating. She now regularly submits blood and urine samples for testing on a voluntary basis. She does use an abundance of supplements but they are all legal. Also, one big advantage for her is that she hires a strength and conditioning coach, 2 full-time personal stretchers, a masseuse, and a chiropractor, all of them she visits five times a week. In all, this support team costs Dara approximately 100,000 dollars a year, mostly paid for by her sponsers. So it's no mystery as to why she can stay in such elite condition.

Dara Torres is an incredible role model for mothers and all middle-aged athletes alike. Yet because of the age we live in, cynics will continue to believe that she is a cheater, no matter how many drug tests come back clean. The real cheaters, and dare I say jackasses, like Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmiero, Marion Jones, etc. will prevent some people from giving real life role models such as Dara Torres the praise and admiration she deserves.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3384672&n8pe6c=2

Jesse B, Tues/Thurs 9:30