But I was OK. Torres began her career in 1984, winning a gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay. She took three silver medals home, including the heartbreaking 50-meter freestyle race where she missed the Gold by 1/100th of a second. Torres said no, but later called the doctor back and admitted she had a problem. Javascript must be … Dara Torres is accustomed to jumping right into the pool. Her advice to people struggling with eating disorders is to talk about it. But success in the pool early on in her career hid struggles with a serious eating disorder. She says she received invitations to swim in a few meets, and then people started to ask, “Wouldn't it be great to see a middle-aged person in the Olympic Games?” Since she loves a challenge, Torres decided to go for gold once again. “, On if she left the sport satisfied after she didn’t qualify for a sixth Olympic team in 2012, “I really did. “It was obviously a very dark time in my life and I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy,” she says. As a swimmer at the University of Florida during the ‘80s, Torres says she faced pressure from coaches, particularly Randy Reese, to lose weight. During a swimming career spanning five Olympic Games, Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals and is the oldest swimmer ever to win an Olympic medal. Whatever they would do, I would do. The first step to recovery was opening up about her disorder, she says. Alex Ashlock produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. With 12 medals, Coughlin is tied along with Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres for most all-time medals won by a female swimmer. It's funny because when I got out of the pool after those Olympic trials and I missed the team by nine one-hundredths of a second, I looked in the stands. NY Times Author Dara is the author of 2 best-selling books, "Age is Just a Number", and "Gold Medal … Aged 41, the oldest ever female Olympic swimmer, Torres won a silver medal in the 50 free, defeated by only 1/100th of a second. During a swimming career spanning five Olympic Games, Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals and is the oldest swimmer ever to win an Olympic medal. It’s a story that was four different decades in the making and saw Torres step onto Olympic medal stands at the 1988, ’92, ’96, 2000 and ’08 games, with the latter netting her three silver medals at Beijing at the age of 41, making Torres the oldest American ever to medal in swimming. Swimmer Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals over a nearly 25-year span from age 17 to 41. To compete at the highest level is one thing. #4 - Dara Torres - United States - Swimming - 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2008. She won a silver medal in her final race in the 4×100-meter medley relay swimming with Rebecca Soni, Christine Magnuson, and Dara Torres. As she trained, Torres kept the goal of winning a gold medal in her head. (CBS 58) – Olympic medalist swimmer Dara Torres is sharing ways to help keep children active this winter.The mother and author also talked about the … And I think back then they called it hyperactivity, but I'm sure I had ADD. But the 12-time medalist and four-time Olympic gold winner hasn't really slowed down. Swimmer Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals over a 25-year span, but underneath all that success she struggled with a severe eating disorder early in her career. After taking an 18-month hiatus from swimming, Coughlin returned to competition at the 2010 Conoco Phillips Summer Nationals. She began swimming at age seven. Torres says she tried talking to a male team doctor at the university about her struggles, but the conversation ended with him handing her information on eating disorders. So I started swimming and just fell in love with the sport.”, “It really did. Beijing 2008 was the last time superstar swimmer Dara Torres won an Olympic medal. Dara Torres, 41, swam her personal best time of 24.07 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle Sunday, but was out-touched in a heartbreaker by Britta Steffen of Germany. At age 14, Torres won her first national title. To do it for 24 years is absolutely mind blowing. I'm like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I have to go over and console them.’ And, you know, my mom, obviously, she was upset because she's my mom and she wanted to see me make another Olympic team, but my daughter, I'm like, ‘Tessa, What's wrong? As a veteran swimmer and mother, her 2008 Olympic comeback is legendary, when at age 41, she became the oldest swimmer to win an Olympic medal. She went on to compete in the 1988, 1992, 2000, and 2008 Olympics, winning five medals in 2000, more than anyone else on her team. Torres talks about that in-depth for the first time in a documentary that airs on the SEC Network on Monday called “Once Upon A Comeback.” The intense pressure to make weight came from an inner desire to please her coaches, she says. I sort of got in this habit of bingeing and purging in my freshman year, and that's kind of how it all started and just sort of snowballed from there.”. At the time, the coaches didn’t know a lot about eating disorders, she says. Although Torres burst onto the international swimming stage at a young age, her career was most notable for … Swimmer Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals over a nearly 25-year span from age 17 to 41. Torres became the first swimmer to represent the U.S. in Olympic competition … Torres began her career in 1984, winning a gold medal in the 4×100 freestyle relay. Again retiring after the 2000 Olympics, Torres did not compete in Athina. So the minute they started on a swim team, my mom had me in the stands. However, underneath the success was a relentless mounting pressure to look a certain way. Torres would go on to win 12 Olympic medals over a 25-year span, participating in five Olympic Games. “I knew I had a lot of work to do after that but it was a huge relief to get it off my shoulders after four years of only me knowing that I had this issue,” she says. And I think that all changed when I started to notice changes in my body, started to become more of a woman, and realized that I actually have to work hard to be fast. She won three individual bronze medals at Sydney – in the 50 free, the 100 free, and the 100 fly. As a high school junior, she started training for her first Olympics. Early on in her competitive swimming career, she was obsessed with working out. Beijing 2008 was the last time superstar swimmer Dara Torres won an Olympic medal. Tall and strikingly attractive, Torres then began a career as a model, becoming the first athlete to appear in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue. “And I really think the power of positive thinking can play a role in what you do in your life.”, “Well, I have four older brothers, and I was very competitive the minute I was born. But success in the pool early on in her career hid struggles … It's like, who could be the first one in the car? If someone didn’t make weight, they had to do extra workouts. And she put me in the pool just to get the energy out and not have it all around her and just focus it somewhere. It just doesn't come easy anymore. ... Torres retires with 12 medals, tied with Jenny Thompson as the most decorated U.S. female swimmer. It's a story that was four different decades in the making and saw Torres step onto Olympic medal stands at the 1988, '92, '96, 2000 and '08 games, with the latter netting her three silver medals at Beijing at the age of 41, making Torres the oldest American ever to medal in swimming. Torres finished her Olympic career lacking only an individual gold medal. “For me personally, having come from a background where I've never trained like that before in my life, to have to do extra workouts was just, that wasn't going to happen for me,” she says. Torres won four Olympic medals of each color, one of only three Olympians to have won four or more medals of each type (Takashi Ono of Japan, and Larisa Latynina in gymnastics are the others). So it was kind of funny. OLYMPIC MEDALS: 1984 (gold), 1988 (silver, bronze), 1992 (gold), 2000 (2-gold, 3-bronze), 2008 (3-silver) Dara Torres lingered in the water after the other swimmers had climbed out of the pool. Torres competed in five Olympic Games, winning 12 medals (Jewish American swimmer Mark Spitz won only 11 Olympic medals). Official profile of Olympic athlete Dara TORRES (born 15 Apr 1967), including games, medals, results, photos, videos and news. The coaches weighed the girls right on the pool deck, as Torres describes in the film, and sometimes the swimmers would break down in tears if they didn't make weight. But in 2006 she began training to make another Olympic team and made the US team for Beijing, winning the Olympic Trials in both the 50 and 100 metre freestyle. And just to make sure that when you want to eat stuff that, you know, you're maybe not supposed to have, eat it in smaller portions and you'll be fine.”. 2010 US Summer Nationals and Pan Pacific Championships. After she graduated college, she went to get a physical and the doctor asked her if she’s ever binged and purged. Swimmer Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals over a nearly 25-year span from age 17 to 41. At the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, Dara Torres became the oldest swimmer to compete in the Olympic Games. At 17, she won her first Olympic medals at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. But success in the pool early on in her career hid struggles with a serious eating disorder. One coach wanted the team to look intimidating to competitors on the starting blocks and set a weight goal for the swimmers to meet, she says. Between 1896 and 2018, Jewish athletes have won at least 451 medals in Olympic Games competition. Torres talks about that in-depth for the first time in a documentary that airs on the SEC Network on Monday called “Once Upon A Comeback.”. She was just 17 years old, and had not yet enrolled in college when she won her first Olympic medal. But she elected to compete in Beijing only in the 50 and the 4×100 freestyle and medley relays. TM © Olympic Channel Services S.L. I really could just get up on the starting blocks and do the start into the water and swim fast and no big deal. With little time to prepare, she returned to the Olympic pool at Sydney, and won five medals, including two golds in relays. “But yet I learned a lot from it and it made me the person who I am today.”. It was a little bit of a role reversal of, you know, me having to console my mom. For proof, she has a dozen Olympic swimming medals (four of each color) earned over five … As a veteran swimmer and mother, her 2008 Olympic comeback is legendary, when at age 41, she became the oldest swimmer to win an Olympic medal. I knew that the time that I did Olympic trials, my sixth Olympic trials, was the second-fastest time I've ever done at trials. 5x Olympic Swimmer over 24yr career - Amazingly won 3 medals at age 41 - Mother, mentor and fierce competitor. Allison Hagan adapted it for the web. Stand by for this week’s incredible TNQ Podcast. She swam through 2012, but just missed out making the US Olympic team for the London Olympics. Who could be the first one done at the dinner table? When the time to train for Beijing arrived, Torres was pregnant, in her 40s and swimming for exercise. See Article. Torres competed in five Olympic Games, winning 12 medals and overtaking American swimmer Mark Spitz, who’s also Jewish, with 11 Olympic medals. She added a silver and bronze in relays in 1988, and seemingly ended her swimming career with another gold in the 4×100 free relay in 1992. She competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, picking up more medals along the way. But in late 1998, she elected to return to competitive swimming. I’ve done a ton of interviews leading up to the premier tonite of “Once Upon A Comeback,” & when asked my most proud moment, it’s not about the medals or records, it’s about the road it took to be the best I could be. Dara Torres' swimming career has spanned a total of 28 years and 6 Olympic games. But the girls are getting faster and I couldn't give it anything else. In her first Olympic games in 1984, she won a gold medal for the 100–meter relay. But the 12-time medalist and four-time Olympic gold winner hasn't really slowed down. Torres competed in five Olympic Games, winning 12 medals and overtaking American … Forbes. She added silver medals in both relays. Torres would go on to win 12 Olympic medals over a 25-year span, participating in five Olympic Games. “And one thing led to another. 2021 - All rights reserved. When Israel and Arab nations unite, world should take note, says UN ambassador, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan said perhaps Iran should be thanked for inspiring “this newfound bond.”, US policy of labeling West Bank products as ‘Made in Israel’ takes effect. I gave it all I had.”, On what she tells her daughter about body image and her experience with eating disorders, “I continuously tell her how beautiful she is on the inside and out and not to base everything off of food. Cuban American swimmer Dara Torres has won 12 Olympic medals. She also achieved notice as a commercial spokeswoman on an infomercial for a fitness training method. Dara Torres had the longest successful career of any Olympic swimmer, one which saw her win 12 Olympic medals and four gold medals. That didn't go very well because I had a lot of energy. Dara Torres. Jane Clayson Guest Host, On PointJane Clayson is On Point’s regular guest host. . I saw my daughter crying and I saw my mom crying. Spitz earned most of his in the 1972 summer games in Munich, when 11 Israeli Olympic team members were taken hostage and killed, along with a West German police officer. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Dara Torres was a member of the U.S. women’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay team, earning a gold medal in the event final. Dara Torres pushed boundaries for both her gender and age, breaking records and forging new paths for women. But success in the pool early on in her career hid struggles with a serious eating disorder. The cycle of bingeing and purging took over Torres’ life and psyche — but now she views the difficult experience as a lesson. “I kept that thought with me every single day for the almost two years after that I trained for the Olympic trials and Olympic Games,” she says. Just always competing with them. Torres swam in the Olympics in Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992, Sydney in 2000 and Beijing in 2008. Swimmer Dara Torres won 12 Olympic medals over a nearly 25-year span from age 17 to 41.. The swimmer ended up winning three silver medals in Beijing. 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