Dara Torres seeks to qualify for 2012 London Olympics – Swimming news
Four-time Olympic gold medallist, Dara Torres, has expressed her desire of participating at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Torres, who would be 45-years-old by that time, has already represented USA at five Olympic Games during the period of 1984-2008.
Currently, Torres is one of the eldest female swimmers in competitive swimming. She will not be able to improve any age records, as this record is held by Sweden’s Oscar Swahn, who stood at the podium with his team-members in the Double Shot Running Deer
shooting in 1920.
Nevertheless, she will set the aquatics record by just appearing at the starting blocks of the 2012 London Olympics. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 41-year-old Torres became the eldest Olympic swimming medallist when she pocketed a silver medal in the
50m freestyle behind Germany’s Britta Steffen.
During her entire international swimming career, she has conquered eight gold medals, five silver medals and four bronze medals. She made her debut in 1983, when she competed at the Pan American Games and qualified for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
She competed in the 100m freestyle relay and assisted the US team to conquer the top of the podium for gold medal. At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Torres captured a silver medal in the 100m medley relay and a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle relay.
In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she pocketed five medals comprising of two gold medals in the relay events and three bronze medals in the events of 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly. In 2008, she again qualified in the US team to the Beijing
Olympics, where she won her record silver medal along with the two silver medals in the relay events.
Then, her training program was disrupted by a knee surgery and she remained out of competitive swimming for more than one and a half year. After her recovery, she resumed her career by entering the Missouri Grand Prix, which was the third stop of the 2010-11
USA Grand Prix Series.
Torres clocked a time of 25.90 seconds in the preliminary rounds, qualifying into the finals as the fourth fastest swimmer. In the final rounds, she failed to sustain her speed and finished as the sixth fastest swimmer after a sluggish swim of 26.13 seconds.
Her efforts at Missouri, earned Torres a ticket to the US Olympic Trials for the 50m freestyle event. After such a long break from competitive swimming, her performance was remarkable and she has realised that a lot of work needs to be put in if she has
to fulfil her London qualification dream.
The American swimmer was satisfied with her performance saying that after the surgery, it was very tough for her to swim the 50m event consecutively for two days.
In addition, the 44-year-old Torres is now preparing for the next year’s US Swimming Olympic Trials, where she aims to dominate her 50m event to gain a qualification ticket to London 2012. Torres also said that she has altered her training schedule and is
trying hard to meet the expectations of her fans, by qualifying for the London event.
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