American veteran, Dara Torres eyes to compete in her sixth Olympic Games in 2012
Dara Torres is an American female swimmer, who was born on April 15, 1967, in the city of Culver. Torres has proudly represented America in five different Olympic Games from 1984-2008. She is the only American swimmer to compete in five Olympics and has
reached the podium on twelve occasions at these Games; four times each for gold, silver and bronze medals.
Torres, a 1990 telecommunication graduate of University of Florida, won a total of nine Southeastern Conference (SEC) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Swimming and Diving Championships in her life, and was honoured with the SEC ‘Athlete
of the Year’ award in 1988.
She made her international swimming debut in 1983 at the Pan American Games in Caracas, where she won a gold medal in the 4*100m freestyle relay. Then, the next year at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Torres was again selected for USA’s 4*100m freestyle
relay team. In the respective category, the team of Dara Torres, Nancy Hogshead, Jenna Johnson and Carrie Steinseifer qualified as the fastest in the preliminary rounds and then won a gold medal in the freestyle relay final.
Her performance in the relay event and her qualification at the 1986 US National trials led to her selection for the USA freestyle relay team for the World Championships. She then won a silver medal in the 4*100m freestyle relay meet, along with her fellow
team-members.
At the 1987 Pan Pacific Championships, Torres for the first time participated in an individual event at any championship. She participated in the 100m freestyle and won a gold medal in her swim. She also won two gold medals in the 4*100m freestyle and 4*100m
medley relay.
Then, at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, Torres won a silver medal in the 4*100m medley relay and a bronze medal in the 4*100m freestyle relay. Torres also participated in the 100m freestyle event but failed to occupy any medal and finished seventh in the
individual meet. Torres then appeared in 1992 for the trials of Barcelona Olympics, where she qualified for USA's 4*100m freestyle relay team. Her team-members included Angel Martino, Nicole Haislett and Jenny Thompson. Torres swam the second 100m freestyle
in the relay team and the squad comfortably won a gold medal at the Olympics.
She then failed to qualify for the international championships until 2000. At the age of 33, Torres qualified for the 100m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 4*100m medley relay team for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Torres won a gold medal in
the 4*100m medley relay and bronze medals in the events of 100m butterfly, 50m freestyle and 100m freestyle, respectively.
Then, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 41-year-old Torres qualified for the 4*100m freestyle relay, 4*100m medley relay and the 50m freestyle meet. She won silver medals in all her events. She then won the events of 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly at USA
Swimming Nationals, to qualify for the 2009 World Championships in Rome. At the championship, Torres finished eighth in her 50m freestyle event, whereas, she failed to qualify for the finals of 50m butterfly.
Then, in September, 2010, after her knee surgery, Torres once again started swimming and announced her desire to participate at the 2012 London Olympics. She will be 45-years-old at the next Olympics and if she succeeds to make her way through to USA’s Swimming
Olympics squad, she might be able to secure a medal being a part of America’s relay team.
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