The Olympics haven’t even begun and yet Dara Torres, the 41-year-old mother and record-breaking five-time Olympic swimmer, seems to already be riding a falling star.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Torres’ face and story on the TVs at the gym or the cover of a magazine or on every single health and fitness website, as of late. Her story, complete with YouTube videos and adorable chubby baby, has been told and retold to the point where I dare say she is the face of the U.S. Olympic swim team, dethroning the buff, talented and yet tragically not old Michael Phelps.
Dara Torres Is Magic
We women are taught to fear aging. As I approached my thirtieth birthday in June, I probably heard “You’re metabolism will fall and you’ll gain weight and wrinkles will sprout overnight” more than I got “Happy Birthday.” But Torres is the magic antidote to all of that nonsense. She is fit, with abs that would make a photoshop editor cry at their perfection. She is fierce, giving interviews with a drive and motivation that can only indicate what to expect of her in the pool. She is the ultimate American Woman Dichotomy: motherly with her photogenic baby AND sexy with her full spread for Maxim. She’s better than Botox.
Dara Torres Is Too Magic
All that perfection comes at a price. Many are starting to question how Torres, at 41, can swim better now than she did at her “peak” 15 years ago. In addition to working out significantly less, she’s had a baby, retired, unretired and undergone major surgery – twice – in the past year. That’s a lot of to overcome. Some say it is too much.
Despite testing clean, Torres is now falling under a cloud of doping suspicions. She answers her critics by claiming two advantages that her younger self didn’t have: an amino acid cocktail and a fitness technique called “resistance stretching.” The former is supposed to help repair and build muscles while the latter is supposed to help her recover faster and be a more efficient swimmer. All great things, true, but great things that money can buy and other swimmers have tried her “secret to success” and have not achieved the performance gains she has. For a more detailed analysis of Torres’ two not-so-secret weapons, check out this piece in Slate.
Role Model or Just Rolled?
My first thought on this matter is that even if she is doping – and clean drug tests don’t vindicate her as the pros have long been ahead of the tests – girl has put in a lot of serious work and time. She’s very good. Do we need more girl-on-girl hate?
Or is she just another in a long list of examples held up to empower women but end up discouraging us with their dishonesty?
Sometimes we just HATE seeing people succeed! Especially people who are older than us, and “should” be slowing down, or at least thinking about retiring. 41 has traditionally been REALLY OLD for an athlete, but that way of thinking is slowly changing, thank goodness.
When I read an interview with her a few months ago, I have to admit that my first thought was “Well sure, she’s an Olympic athlete, of course she looks that way! The rest of us don’t spend 8 hours a day working out.” Which is true, but also a bit catty of me.
I think she IS a role model, I think she’s training smarter than she did 15 years ago, and some people just can’t stand to see a 41 year-old female athlete do so well. And that’s their problem, not hers.
Honestly this isn’t anything new. It’s happened with every Olympics to at least one athlete. Most notably to Michelle Smith, an IMer, in 1996 Sydney. As for girl on girl hate I doubt it exists within the swimming world though some may be a bit jealous that she is able to spend $100,000 a year on training when most swimmers can barely afford to train period (side note: one reason swimmers are so young beside talent and ability is because in school their training is paid for. Once they graduate and are in the “real world” it becomes very difficult to hold a job and train the amount you need to succeed. Triathletes have this same problem. The lucky get sponsors but that is hard to do and rarely at the level that Phelps gets them).
The best though is that Natalie Coughlin (backstroker) was quoted in one article saying that Dara had better step it up as she (Natalie) was the oldest on the team at the moment and that was just no acceptable! This was before Dara had secured her place on the team.
As for the training, swimming has made SO MANY advancements in the past 15 years. Just look at their suits alone! They didn’t have sharkskin technology in the 80s only bare legged technology! Anyways hopefully the Olypic committee will back off, look at the test results for what they are and cheer on one of the greatest female athletes out there!
my fast .02:
I do not see it as G on G hate but as pure athletic success cynicism.
people like marion jones (and was in michelle smith who was eventually found to have done perf.enhancing drugs & stripped of her medal? I cant think of the name for which Im groping) who doth protest too much and, in the end, are found to have lied.
while I am with you on the fact that ANY OF THESE ATHLETES whether they dope or not are working beyond hard IMO it's no different than airbrushed magazines inthe "you too can look like this at 40 plus (or whatever)!!" when they have had assistance.
90% of the time we COULD with airbrushing/photoshopping or some GH/clen 🙂
Ok. Im rambling but hope Ive kindasorta made any point.
off to work.
Miz.
We have a lot of tall poppy syndrome in Australia as well – whenever someone succeeds, we cut them down.
We haven’t had any media on Dara T. over here, but the woman sounds like a power house. And I hate that people (myself included) could think that someone in her boat could/might cheat to be that successful. It seems to be part of the broader athletic community in general that it applies to now which is such a shame.
Seems like a no-win situation if testing clean isn’t enough to prove you’re not doping. I have no idea what the situation is, but how else could she prove she’s clean?
And if it really is that easy to avoid being caught, you can bet others she’s competing with would be doing it too. I personally doubt she is, just because she’s so high profile and the risks of getting caught, even with imperfect drug tests, would be too high.
I think unless someone has some solid evidence that she’s doping, other than how freakin’ awesome she is, folks should leave her alone. To condemn an athlete for being just too good seems kinda unfair.
Azusmom – well put!
Anonymous – you are right, this isn’t new. Sadly it is more the norm these days, I think. Excellent point about the technology and the costs!
MizFit – I think you’re right about it being plain ol’ jealousy.
WundaLucy – “tall poppy syndrome”!!! I love that. I must use that in a sentence today.
Crabby – The testing isn’t “so easy” to evade for most athletes but the rare elite ones can because they have access to the newest drugs for which there are no tests yet. And I think you are right in that if she is doping her competitors probably are too. One more way in which money unequalizes sports…
Well, I’m a 42 yr old mom and I’d like to think that if I had the fortitude and finances I could do it. I know at this age, I have more focus than at any other time in my life.
I’m more than happy to give her what’s due and I think it’s a shame they can slander any athlete without proof.
Lori
I hope she does really great!! I know a silver medalist(Allison Wagnor), who was edged out by a Chinese swimmer in a past Olympics, and many feel that drugs played a role in that. Sometimes I feel there needs to be a “whatever” category where the athletics can do, well, whatever, and just let-er-rip!
innocent until proven guilty in my book. i hope she rocks the olympics and shuts everyone up!
I really hope she isn’t doping and I hate that everyone just jumps to that conclusion. Although in this day and age, doping is common, so it is hard not to suspect it.
I love that she is doing so well at her age, but I’m not sure she’s a role model for me. I want to think I will look awesome at 40 (not that far away. eek!) but the truth is, I don’t have access to the training she does. It is just like celebrities who look great over 40. A lot of us would look that good if we had access to the dermatologists, skin care, makeup, etc. that they do.
Aw man, I hope that she isn’t taking any drugs to enhance her performance and the like.
But I think that people get suspicious when they see someone else doing something that seems so impossible… and, like Azusmom says, they get jealous. And so many people DO lie nowadays that theres just no trust left. Such a sad and depressing thought!
I think that there is a ton of doping that goes on in any sport. BUT. I think people are WAY too quick to jump to that conclusion any time an athlete does really well. There are just some people who are very good athletes and that’s all there is to it. Many are doping, yes. But I hate the fact that the whole outlook on the games has turned so cynical that we automatically assume they’re doping if they do well, and we can’t just say that someone played very well if they happen to beat the person we’re rooting for.
I watched an interview with Dara where she spoke about realizing that her late-in-life success would probably bring a firestorm of doping allegations (true.), so she contacted the anti-doping commission to figure out a protocol for a more thorough testing schedule to ward off the accusations before they began. Unfortunately, it looks like even though she did more than her due diligence, the accusations just keep coming.
I agree that she’s got a well-funded training and recovery staff, but she’s also working hard. I hope in the end her performance will be enough to prove her in the right.
So many athletes dope nowadays… it does give them an edge… but it does not undo all the HARD WORK they have to put in.
Dara is an inspiring person, regardless of how she does during the Olypmics. I would be very disappointed if she were doping, but then again, it does not take away her dedication.
True, her physique and fitness level are unattainable for most of us, but it goes to show ageing does not have to be this going downhill process. That’s refreshing.
I am glad to see a 41 year old mom fit, able to compete in the highest levels of her sport of choice and in Maxim. A sexy mom indeed.
i just think its weird i hadnt heard of her until she turned in to the “Old Phenom.” I have to admit i had suspicions, too, as its just kind of a fact that an olympians peak tends to be intheir early 20’s yet she came out of no where.
however, who freakin’ cares. she earned her spot and until someone can prove she did it unfairly how bout giving her a pat on the back instead of trying to make different headlines. i oculd take every steriod in the world and not look that good.
I know thats not really the point, but whatevs.
http://www.groundedfitness.com
Doping allegations against Ms. Torres are unfounded speculation. Part of it is, as azusmom stated, sheer envy at another’s success. Ms. Torres does seem a bit full of herself in her media appearances, but what athlete doesn’t psyche herself ahead of major competition? It’s merely a part of this new stupid knee-jerk American cynicism/skepticism. It’s an entirely thoughtless state of mind where the doubter (in the media or otherwise)get to feel more intelligent and morally superior, without any rhyme or reason for their skepticism. Besides, there is justice for sports doping–the long-term consequences are a heckuvalot more frightening than those for smoking.
Major girlcrush! (which is my cutesy way of saying, “i covet her abs”) Unless she’s doping, in which case I revoke said girlcrush and bestow upon another worthy candidate.
But to the point…I agree with Mizfit about this being a case of athletic cynicism… sports fans/media consumers have been burned too many times by athletes claiming to be drug-free. The more spectacular an athlete’s performance and/or improvement, sadly, the more suspicious they get…unfortunately w/ good reason…
My dear, lovely, brilliant, kind-hearted friend, Charlotte…
If the people who warned you about changing metabolism and wrinkles outnumbered the people who wished you a Happy 30th Birthday, then you need to get new friends.
I’m choosing to give her the benefit of the doubt. But that may also be because I’m completely hypnotized by her abs. Good for her, I say.
I just love “tall poppy syndrome.” Must find ways to work it into conversations…
Ever Gym’s Nightmare – I hate to preach but Dara did not come out of nowhere. Her first Olympic debut was in 1984 and she also competed in ’88, ’92, and ’00. She does however, swim events that often don’t get a lot of publicity as they are short sprint events plus she was not dominating like Michael Phelps currently is. Swimming is also more “popular” now so there is more exposure available to swimmers. No, I think (like many others here) it’s cynicism and the fact that many athletes have lied only to be caught after the fact. Sad but true.
Honestly I am impressed with her but am more impressed by Natalie Coughlin and those who swim the bigger more complex events. Regardless, I’m still cheering them all on 🙂
Arrrghh! That makes me so mad that people would automatically assume that. Nothing like that ever crossed my mind, and I sincerely hope it’s not true — she seems like such an awesome lady!