For those of you who don't keep up on these kinds of things, something extraordinary just happened.
In 2000, Dara Torres became the oldest person (person, meaning male or female) to set an American Record in swimming. She was 33. For those of you who were counting, that was seven years ago.
Tonight, Dara Torres reset the record for the oldest person to set an American record in swimming, swimming a lifetime best in the 50 free by a tenth.... at age 40.
For those of you who need a little perspective, Dara Torres won her first Olympic gold medal at 17 in 1984 as part of the 400 free relay. Eleven months later, Michael Phelps was born. She has now been the top female 50 freestyler in the US during 3 different decades, and during 4 different presidencies. Chew on that for a while.
Dara has legitimate potential to make her fifth Olympic team in 2008. Mind you, Dara was not swimming competitively between 1992 and 1999, or between 2000 and 2005, thus not even trying to make the Olympic teams in 1996 and 2004. Dara also gave birth to a daughter in 2006. Yes, she had a child last year and broke the AR in the 50 by a tenth tonight.
It gives us old dudes some hope to keep doing lifetime bests for a while, at the very least... otherwise, I am simply blown away. I don't think any of us have ever seen anything like it, but I hope we have the opportunity to see more. My hat's off to you, Dara. Keep up the outstanding work, and keep bringing Tessa to the awards stand with you.
