Age is Just a Number

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Added: Tue. Apr 07, 2009 11:18am
Posted in: Aging

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“You should write a book.” I’d love to have a dollar for everyone who must have told Dara Torres that very thing after her amazing performance in Beijing. When the public demands a book, you write one. And Dara did. It hits the shelves this week.

The book is called Age is Just a Number and I have not yet read it. But as a journalist, I covered Dara at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, her first comeback at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, and at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

The point is, I’m familiar with her story and have been fascinated by it for years. But I didn’t know it all. Her book, starting with the prologue, fills in the personal details.

I’ve been old before. I was old when I was 27 and I got divorced. I was old when I was 35 and I couldn’t get pregnant. I was really old when I was 39 and my father died. But when I was 41 and I woke up in a dorm in the Olympic Village in Beijing, I didn’t feel old. I felt merely—and, yes, happily—middle-aged. “The water doesn’t know how old you are,” I’d been telling anyone who would listen for the prior two years. Though sometimes, I have to admit, I would think to myself, Good thing it can’t see my wrinkles.

Dara’s Olympic odyssey began as a 17-year-old in 1984. She competed in the 1988 and 1992 Games before retiring for 7 years. She quietly began a comeback in 1999 and shocked the world by making her 4th Olympics in 2000 at the age of 33. Another long retirement and an even more amazing comeback resulted in a trip to Beijing. Twice as old as most of her competitors, Dara won three medals and missed winning the gold in the 50m freestyle by just 0.01 seconds. For the decimal challenged -- that is one hundredth of a second. It takes three times as long (.033) for you to blink.

Lest you think that Dara is some sort of genetic freak, consider two things; her workout schedule and her medical history. She works hard and she hurts.

“I swim from eight to ten and then do dry-land stretch-cord training for about 20 minutes. Then I hit the gym for an hour and a half of weight training, and then I go stretch for two hours. And some days I get a massage.”

“ I’ve had elbow surgery, four hand surgeries and one pinky surgery. I’ve had three shoulder surgeries and about six knee surgeries.”

Dara turns 42 next week, and despite 15 surgeries says she’s in the best shape of her life. She has just announced yet another comeback with plans to swim at the 2009 World Championships in Rome and possibly the 2012 Olympics in London.

"...If I can inspire both women and men in anything it would be that age is just a number, not a death sentence. Wake up every morning with a plan and a dream. If you do, like me, dreams do still come true in your 40s and beyond."

Click here to see one of Dara's anti-aging secrets revealed at the 2000 Olympic trials.

This is Dara on the cover of More Magazine. Not bad.

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junehussey
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Posted 2:57pm April 14th, 2009
Thank you for blogging about Dara Torres. I thought her stellar performance in the 50 Free in Beijing was surpassed only by that of Jason Lezak in anchoring the Men's 4 x 100 Free Relay to victory over the French. If you think Dara's amazing story of age-defying fitness and speed is rare, then pick up the April edition of Swimming World magazine featuring the Top Twelve World Masters Swimmers for 2009. Read about these inspiring men and women who are swimming faster and faster with age. Check out the shoulders on Rita Simonton, 90, and Japan's Yoshiko Osaki, 71. Wow. Viva Dara Torres and all the fabulous role models in the world of swimming.
Dave Knechel
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Posted 5:29pm April 7th, 2009
Eh, she's too young for me.

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