Dara Torres

Dara Torres Dara Torres waves to the crowd after winning the silver medal in the 50 m freestyle. Personal information Full name: Dara Grace Torres Nickname(s): DT Nationality:  United States Stroke(s): Freestyle, butterfly College team: University of Florida Date of birth: April 15, 1967 (1967-04-15) (age 42) Place of birth: Jupiter, Florida, United States Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Weight: 150 lb (68 kg)

Medal record Olympic Games Gold 1984 Los Angeles 4×100 m freestyle Gold 1992 Barcelona 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2000 Sydney[1] 4×100 m freestyle Gold 2000 Sydney 4×100 m medley Silver 1988 Seoul 4x100 m medley Silver 2008 Beijing 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2008 Beijing 50 m freestyle Silver 2008 Beijing 4×100 m medley Bronze 1988 Seoul 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2000 Sydney 50 m freestyle Bronze 2000 Sydney 100 m freestyle Bronze 2000 Sydney 100 m butterfly Pan American Games Gold 1983 Caracas 4x100 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Gold 1987 Brisbane 100 m freestyle Gold 1987 Brisbane 4x100 m freestyle Gold 1987 Brisbane 4x100 m medley

Dara Grace Torres (born April 15, 1967) is an American swimmer. She is the first swimmer from the United States to compete in five Olympics: 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008. She competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in the 50 meter freestyle, 4×100 medley relay, and 4×100 freestyle relay and won^[2] the silver medal in all three of these events.

Torres has won twelve Olympic medals (four gold, four silver, four bronze), five of which she won in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that, at age 33, she was the oldest member of the US Olympic Swim Team. She has also won at least one medal in each of the five Olympics in which she has competed, making her one of only a handful of Olympians to earn medals in five different Games.^[3]

On August 1, 2007, at the age of 40 (just 15 months after giving birth to her first child), she won gold in the 100 meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, her 14th win at these events. She then followed that up on August 4 by twice breaking her own American record in the 50 m freestyle, 26 years after she first set the American record at just 15 years old.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Career outside of swimming 3 Another comeback for a fifth Olympics 4 Personal life 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

Early career

Torres grew up in Los Angeles and attended the Westlake School for Girls (now Harvard-Westlake School), and swam under coach Darlene Bible, where she set California Interscholastic Federation records that remain to this day.^[4] As a teenager in the 1980s, she swam for the Mission Viejo Nadadores, in Mission Viejo, California, under Mark Shubert, the 2008 Olympic swimming coach.

Torres was one of the 2000 Olympics swimmers featured in the book Gold in the Water, by P. H. Mullen. It describes Torres's comeback for the 2000 Olympics under coaches Richard Quick and Dick Jochums. She broke the World Record in the Women's 50 Meter Freestyle race three times during the early 1980s.

She subsequently attended the University of Florida, where she received 28 All-American honors.

Torres uses resistance stretching with trainers Anne Tierney and Steve Sierra from Innovative Body Solutions and refers to this training as her "secret weapon" for continued success.^[5]

Career outside of swimming

Torres has worked in television as a reporter and announcer for American networks such as NBC, ESPN, TNT, OLN and Fox News Channel. She now hosts the golf show The Clubhouse, on the Resort Sports Network. She is also an occasional model, having appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1994. In 2005, she was elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. ^[6]

In 2009 BP Products North America approached Torres to be part of its "Team Invigorate" designed to inspire others to live "younger for longer" in support of the product promise behind BP gasoline.^[7]

She is the author of the inspirational memoir, Age is Just a Number, published in March, 2009.

Another comeback for a fifth Olympics

At age 41, Dara Torres returned to the pool to obtain a spot in her fifth Olympic games, unprecedented for an American female swimmer, especially given the fact that she sat out the 1996 and 2004 Olympic games. In fact, she is the first woman in history to swim in the Olympics past the age of 40.^{[citation needed]} Her Olympic career spans 24 years.

On July 5, she qualified for the finals in the 50 m freestyle that were held on July 6. In that semi-final, she broke the American record with a time of 24.38 seconds. On July 6 in the finals she broke that record for the 9th time, setting it at 24.25 seconds and winning the top American women's spot in the 50 m freestyle.^[8]

On July 7, 2008, Torres confirmed that she would be pulling out of 100 m freestyle swim for her time at the Beijing Olympics to focus her efforts on the 50 m freestyle. Lacey Nymeyer took over the position from Torres.^[9]

On July 30, 2008, at the U.S. swim team's final training in Singapore, Torres, together with Amanda Beard and Natalie Coughlin were elected captains of the U.S. Olympic women’s swimming team.^[10]

In order to pre-empt any speculation that she might be taking performance-enhancing drugs, Torres volunteered for an enhanced drug-testing program. She has not been accused of steroids-use.^[11]

Torres won silver on August 10, 2008, at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing as the anchor position of the US 4×100 meters women's freestyle relay (the fifth time in five tries she has earned an Olympic medal in that event).

On August 17, 2008 at the age of 41 years and 125 days, she won silver in the women's 50 meter freestyle race finishing in American record time of 24.07, 0.01 seconds behind the winner, Britta Steffen. About 35 minutes later, she won another silver medal as part of the American 4×100 m medley relay team. Her 12 Olympic medals tie the all-time medal record for a female Olympic swimmer with fellow American swimmer, Jenny Thompson. Eight of Thompson's medals were gold, compared with Torres' 4. However, Dara has twice as many individual medals (4) as Thompson (2). Torres' split on the 4×100 medley relay (52.27) is the fastest 100 freestyle split in relay history. The American record for the Women's 100M freestyle as an individual event was 53.39 seconds as of August 2008, making Torres's time a full second faster, fast even for a relay split.

2008 Summer Olympics Events
Medal count: 3 (0 gold, 3 silver, 0 bronze)
Date	Event	Final Time	Place
August 9	4×100 m Freestyle Relay	3:34.33	2nd
August 16	50 m Freestyle	24.07	2nd
August 16	4×100 m Medley Relay	3:53.30	2nd

Personal life

Torres was born in Jupiter, Florida, the daughter of Edward Torres and Marylu Kauder ^[12]. She grew up in Los Angeles, California the fifth of six children and the older of two girls. At age 7, Torres started following her brothers to swim practice at the local Y.M.C.A. and later joined the Culver City swim team. During her junior year in high school, Torres moved to Mission Viejo, Calif., to train for the 1984 Olympics. Torres started attending the University of Florida in 1985. At Florida, Torres earned 28 N.C.A.A. all-American swimming awards, the maximum number possible during a college career ^[13].

In the mid-1990s, she married and subsequently divorced sports producer Jeff Gowen. Her second marriage was also brief from June 19,2003 - December 2004, to Israeli-born surgeon Itzhak Shasha ^[14]. Prior to marrying Shasha, Torres officially converted to Judaism ^[12] (her late father was Jewish).

Torres is no longer dating reproductive endocrinologist, David Hoffman. They do remain close friends. He was the fertility doctor who treated Torres/Shasha. When Torres and Shasha separated, Torres and Hoffman began dating. Torres and Hoffman are parents to Tessa Grace Torres-Hoffman, born in April 2006 ^[15].

See also

• World record progression 50 metres freestyle
• List of United States records in swimming
• Coach Bill Boomer

References

External links

• Dara Torres Official Website
• Dara Torres Official Bio
• Resistance Stretching Torres' authored DVD with her training recommendations
• Torres Is Getting Older, but Swimming Faster
• A Swimmer of a Certain Age
• "Dara Torres", n°2 on Time’s list of "100 Olympic Athletes To Watch"
• Torres: 'I Want To Show People I'm Clean'

v • d • e 1984 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Matt Biondi  •  Rick Carey  •  Chris Cavanaugh  •  George DiCarlo  •  Jeff Float  •  Geoffrey Gaberino  •  Rowdy Gaines  •  Matt Gribble  •  Bruce Hayes  •  Mike Heath  •  Tom Jager  •  Patrick Kennedy  •  Jeff Kostoff  •  David Larson  •  Robin Leamy  •  Steve Lundquist  •  John Moffet  •  Pablo Morales  •  John Mykkanen  •  Mike O'Brien  •  Rich Saeger  •  Rich Schroeder  •  Jesse Vassallo  •  Dave Wilson Women's Team Theresa Andrews  •  Tracy Caulkins  •  Tiffany Cohen  •  Sue Heon  •  Nancy Hogshead  •  Jenna Johnson  •  Kim Linehan  •  Mary T. Meagher  •  Betsy Mitchell  •  Susan Rapp  •  Kim Rhodenbaugh  •  Michele Richardson  •  Carrie Steinseifer  •  Jill Sterkel  •  Dara Torres  •  Tori Trees  •  Mary Wayte  •  Amy White  •  Sippy Woodhead Coaches Ron Ballatore  •  Ray Bussard  •  Don Gambril  •  George Haines  •  Charlie Hodgson  •  Doug Ingram  •  Frank Keefe  •  Skip Kenney  •  Richard Quick  •  Randy Reese  •  Mark Schubert

v • d • e 1988 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Mike Barrowman  •  David Berkoff  •  Steve Bigelow  •  Matt Biondi  •  Matt Cetlinski  •  Troy Dalbey  •  Mark Dean  •  Doug Gjertsen  •  Chris Jacobs  •  Tom Jager  •  Shaun Jordan  •  Dan Jorgensen  •  Lars Jorgensen  •  Jeff Kostoff  •  Brett Lang  •  Jay Mortenson  •  Craig Oppel  •  Rich Schroeder  •  Kirk Stackle  •  Bill Stapleton  •  Melvin Stewart  •  Dan Veatch  •  Daniel Watters  •  Dave Wharton Women's Team Beth Barr  •  Tami Bruce  •  Janet Evans  •  Leigh Ann Fetter  •  Erika Hansen  •  Andrea Hayes  •  Whitney Hedgepeth  •  Janel Jorgensen  •  Mitzi Kremer  •  Susan Lipscomb  •  Tracey McFarlane  •  Mary T. Meagher  •  Betsy Mitchell  •  Trina Radke  •  Susan Rapp  •  Jill Sterkel  •  Dara Torres  •  Laura Walker  •  Mary Wayte  •  Paige Zemina Coaches Steve Bultman  •  Dick Hannula (manager)  •  Mitch Ivey  •  Frank Keefe  •  Skip Kenney  •  Richard Quick  •  Eddie Reese  •  Randy Reese  •  Mark Schubert

v • d • e 1992 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Mike Barrowman  •  David Berkoff  •  Matt Biondi  •  Greg Burgess  •  Hans Dersch  •  Nelson Diebel  •  Lawrence Frostad  •  Doug Gjertsen  •  Joe Hudepohl  •  Scott Jaffe  •  Tom Jager  •  Shaun Jordan  •  Dan Jorgensen  •  Ron Karnaugh  •  Sean Killion  •  Pablo Morales  •  Eric Namesnik  •  Jon Olsen  •  Jeff Rouse  •  Roque Santos  •  Tripp Schwenk  •  Royce Sharp  •  Melvin Stewart  •  Joel Thomas  •  Dave Wharton Women's Team Crissy Ahmann-Leighton  •  Janet Evans  •  Nicole Haislett  •  Erika Hansen  •  Jill Johnson  •  Megan Kleine  •  Lea Loveless  •  Angel Martino  •  Anita Nall  •  Summer Sanders  •  Ashley Tappin  •  Jenny Thompson  •  Dara Torres  •  Janie Wagstaff  •  Angie Wester-Krieg Coaches Mike Hastings  •  Richard Quick  •  Eddie Reese  •  Mark Schubert  •  Richard Shoulberg  •  Nort Thornton  •  Jon Urbanchek

v • d • e 2000 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Pat Calhoun  •  Chad Carvin  •  Ian Crocker  •  Josh Davis  •  Tom Dolan  •  Nate Dusing  •  Anthony Ervin  •  Scott Goldblatt  •  Gary Hall Jr.  •  Tommy Hannan  •  Klete Keller  •  Lenny Krayzelburg  •  Jason Lezak  •  Tom Malchow  •  Ed Moses  •  Aaron Peirsol  •  Michael Phelps  •  Jamie Rauch  •  Kyle Salyards  •  Chris Thompson  •  Scott Tucker  •  Erik Vendt  •  Neil Walker  •  Tom Wilkens Women's Team Amanda Adkins  •  Samantha Arsenault  •  Amanda Beard  •  B.J. Bedford  •  Lindsay Benko  •  Brooke Bennett  •  Kim Black  •  Maddy Crippen  •  Misty Hyman  •  Kristy Kowal  •  Diana Munz  •  Rada Owen  •  Erin Phenix  •  Megan Quann  •  Gabrielle Rose  •  Kaitlin Sandeno  •  Courtney Shealy  •  Staciana Stitts  •  Julia Stowers  •  Ashley Tappin  •  Cristina Teuscher  •  Jenny Thompson  •  Dara Torres  •  Amy Van Dyken Coaches Peter Banks  •  Jack Bauerle  •  David Marsh  •  Richard Quick (Women's Head Coach)  •  Eddie Reese  •  Dave Salo  •  Mark Schubert (Men's Head Coach)  •  Jon Urbanchek

v • d • e 2008 USA Olympic Swimming Team Men's Team Nathan Adrian  •  Ricky Berens  •  Ian Crocker  •  Mark Gangloff  •  Matt Grevers  •  Brendan Hansen  •  Larsen Jensen  •  Cullen Jones  •  Klete Keller  •  Jason Lezak  •  Ryan Lochte  •  Aaron Peirsol  •  Michael Phelps  •  Eric Shanteau  •  Scott Spann  •  Gil Stovall  •  Peter Vanderkaay  •  Erik Vendt  •  Dave Walters  •  Mark Warkentin  •  Garrett Weber-Gale  •  Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner Women's Team Amanda Beard  •  Elizabeth Beisel  •  Elaine Breeden  •  Caroline Burckle  •  Natalie Coughlin  •  (Jessica Hardy)  •  Kathleen Hersey  •  Margaret Hoelzer  •  Katie Hoff  •  Megan Jendrick  •  Kara Lynn Joyce  •  Christine Magnuson  •  Christine Marshall  •  Lacey Nymeyer  •  Allison Schmitt  •  Emily Silver  •  Julia Smit  •  Rebecca Soni  •  Chloe Sutton  •  Dara Torres  •  Kim Vandenberg  •  Kate Ziegler Coaches  Jack Bauerle (Women's Head Coach)  •  Ray Benecki  •  Bob Bowman  •  Frank Busch  •  Sean Hutchison  •  Teri McKeever  •  Eddie Reese (Men's Head Coach)  •  Mark Schubert (National Team Head Coach)  •  Gregg Troy  •  Jon Urbanchek  •  Paul Yetter  •

v • d • e Olympic Champions in Women's 4×100 m Freestyle Relay 1912: USA (Moore, Fletcher, Speirs, Steer) · 1920: USA (Woodridge, Schroth, Guest, Bleibtrey) · 1924: USA (Donnelly, Ederle, Lackie, Wehselau) · 1928: USA (Lambert, Osipowich, Saville, Norelius) · 1932: USA (Helen Johns, Saville, McKim, Madison) · 1936: NED (Selbach, Wagner, den Ouden, Mastenbroek) · 1948: USA (Corridon, Kalama, Helser, Curtis) · 1952: HUN (Novák, Temes, Novák, Szöke) · 1956: AUS (Fraser, Leech, Morgan, Crapp) · 1960: USA (Spillane, Stobs, Wood, von Saltza) · 1964: USA (Stouder, de Varona, Watson, Ellis) · 1968: USA (Barkman, Gustavson, Pedersen, Henne) · 1972: USA (Babashoff, Barkman, Kemp, Neilson) · 1976: USA (Peyton. Sterkel, Babashoff, Boglioli) · 1980: GDR (Krause, Metschuck, Diers, Hülsenbeck) · 1984: USA (Johnson, Steinseifer, Torres, Hogshead) · 1988: GDR (Otto, Meißner, Hunger, Manuela Stellmach) · 1992: USA (Haislett, Martino, Thompson, Torres) · 1996: USA (Martino, Van Dyken, Fox, Thompson) · 2000: USA (Van Dyken, Shealy, Thompson, Torres) · 2004: AUS (Mills, Lenton, Thomas, Henry) · 2008: NED (Dekker, Kromowidjojo, Heemskerk, Veldhuis)

v • d • e Olympic Champions in Women's 4×100 m Medley Relay 1960: USA (Burke, Kempner, Schuler, von Saltza) | 1964: USA (Ferguson, Goyette, Stouder, Ellis) | 1968: USA (Hall, Ball, Daniel, Pedersen) | 1972: USA (Belote, Carr, Deardurff, Neilson) | 1976: GDR (Richter, Anke, Ender, Pollack) | 1980: GDR (Reinisch, Geweniger, Pollack, Metschuck) | 1984: USA (Andrews, Caulkins, Meagher, Hogshead) | 1988: GDR (Otto, Hörner, Weigang, Meißner) | 1992: USA (Loveless, Nall, Ahmann-Leighton, Thompson) | 1996: USA (Botsford, Beard, Martino, Van Dyken) | 2000: USA (Bedford, Quann, Thompson, Torres) | 2004: AUS (Rooney, Jones, Thomas, Henry) | 2008: AUS (Seebohm, Jones, Schipper, Trickett)

v • d • e Pan American Champions in Women's 4×100 m Freestyle Relay  1951: United States (Green, Geary, LaVine, Mullen) •  1955: United States (Werner, Green, Kluter, Roberts) •  1959: United States (Botkin, Spillane, Stobs, Von Saltza) •  1963: United States (De Varona, Stouder, McCleary, Norton) •  1967: United States (Fordyce, Carpinelli, Gustavson, Kruse) •  1971: United States (Neilson, Fordyce, McKitrick, Skrifvars) •  1975: United States (Heddy, Brown, Sterkel, Peyton) •  1979: United States (Elkins, Caulkins, Sterkel, Woodhead) •  1983: United States (Sterkel, Torres, Wayte, Steinseifer) •  1987: United States (Coffin, Thompson, Linke, Steinseifer) •  1991: United States (Oesting, Buckovich, Jacob, Tappin) •  1995: United States (Martino, Van Dyken, Farella, Teuscher) •  1999: Canada (Deglau, Limpert, Evanetz, Nicholls) •  2003: United States (Weir, Swindle, Lanne, Shealy) •  2007: United States (Smit, Woodward, Kukors, Correia)

v • d • e Pan Pacific Champions in Women's 100 m Freestyle  1985: Jenna Johnson (USA) •  1987: Dara Torres (USA) •  1989: Zhuang Yong (CHN) •  1991: Angel Martino (USA) •  1993: Jenny Thompson (USA) •  1995: Jenny Thompson (USA) •  1997: Jenny Thompson (USA) •  1999: Jenny Thompson (USA) •  2002: Natalie Coughlin (USA) •  2006: Natalie Coughlin (USA)

v • d • e Pan Pacific Champions in Women's 4×100 m Freestyle Relay  1985: USA (Steinseifer, Johnson, Griglione, Mitchell) •  1987: USA (Johnson, Cornelius, Walker, Torres) •  1989: USA (Thompson, Cooper, Steinseifer, Haislett) •  1991: USA (Martino, Hedgepeth, Thompson, Haislett) •  1993: USA (Valerio, Haislett, Martino, Thompson) •  1995: USA (Van Dyken, Martino, Valerio, Thompson) •  1997: USA (Fox, Valerio, DeMan, Thompson) •  1999: USA (Kolbisen, Fox, Benko, Thompson) •  2002: AUS (Henry, Mills, Thomas, Ryan) •  2006: USA (Weir, Coughlin, Joyce, Nymeyer)

v • d • e Pan Pacific Champions in Women's 4×100 m Medley Relay  1985: CAN •  1987: USA (Linehan, Johnson, Myers, Torres) •  1989: USA (Loveless, McFarlane, Johnson, Fetter) •  1991: USA (Wagstaff, King, Ahmann-Leighton, Haislett) •  1993: USA (Loveless, Nall, Thompson, Martino) •  1995: AUS (Stevenson, Riley, O'Neill, Ryan) •  1997: USA (Maurer, Kowal, Fox, Thompson) •  1999: USA (Bedford, Quann, Thompson, Kolbisen) •  2002: AUS (Calub, Jones, Thomas, Henry) •  2006: USA (Coughlin, Hardy, Komisarz, Weir)