Dara Torres-Amazing

Personally, I would like to believe the results are legitimate, since I have some issues with the aging process. But it beats the alternative.

Here are Max heart rates for 5 runners. Now how do we determine if these heart rates are lowered because they are doing more effective training??? Athlete #1 age 30 189, age 40 183, age 45 179, age 50 177. Athlete #2 age 30 185, age 40 178, age 45 174, age 50 171. Athlete #3 age 30 192, age 40 183, age 45 179, age 50 175. Athlete #4 age 30 187, age 40 180, age 45 177, age 50 173. Athlete #5 age 30 183, age 40 172, age 45 167, age 50 167.

An interesting detail in the article is that she is regularly giving blood samples for testing in addition to the regular urine samples. I'm not that knowledgeable about testing but aren't most of the things that aren't detectable in urine samples detectable in blood samples? (e.g. HGH) This seems like an important distinction between her and other athletes that have never tested positive.

And she also swims the 100. If she took down the 100 free record (or any distance greater)...the speculation might be even more intense. This article explains a great deal of the questions which she faces. And it outlines how she trains. www.nytimes.com/.../18torres.html It really doesn't seem so far fetched that a 6 foot tall 150 pound, former Olympian, in extremely good condition, can bang out a 50 meter sprint in record time.

Remember, we are not talking about an out of shape 40 year old housewife making a masters comeback here....Dara NEVER let herself get out of shape at any time that she had stopped competing....true she wasn't logging major swimming yardage but trust me...she was FIT.I agree with Paul here. I swam at the same time as Dara in So Cal swimming and in college. I was an Olympic Trial Qualifier but not quite as good as Dara (different events). I have stayed very fit over the years and have never let myself get out of shape. Now, I've had three kids as opposed to her one. I haven't trained quite as hard as she has in the last few years (not to mention I don't have the same resources or time to put toward training like that). But, I don't think I could reach AND EXCEED my college times at this age even if I DID have the time, resources and motivation. To beat a 50 time by 2 seconds at 40+ when your original 50 was exceedingly fast to begin with...that just seems too good to be true. She may be totally clean. But I think skepticism is not out of line. HUGE difference between a masters swimmer who had decent times in high-school being faster post-40 and a former DI National Champion and Olympic Team member getting faster at 40+.

I didn't say it wasn't possible. I am just trying to explain why some of us are skeptical. It has been implied that we are drawing conclusions on the basis of a few pictures. Unfortunately, it it not at all clear (from published studies) that training slows the rate of decline in these parameters. And she also swims the 100.

That is just one parameter affected by the aging process. Interestingly, studies have shown that women see a greater decline in their performance in shorter races, which is in contrast to men. How many factors are affected by doping? Is it more than strength? If it is primarily a question of strength then it seems to me to come down to a question of whether it is plausible that she could make the strength gains she has without doping. My understanding is that it is still possible to make large strength gains in one's late thirties, esp. if one hasn't concentrated on strength training when younger. It seems to me that just recently there was an article discussed here that purported to show that the declines in parameters other than maximum heart rate/V02-max were negligible well past the age of 40, implying that reduced training was the primary reason for performance declines in aging athletes. How large is the sample size for athletes even attempting to train and perform at this level at age 40? Could she not just be well out on the bell curve?

Gull is it possible that there could be exceptions to that statement or is that a definite for every living sole. At what age exactly does this happen. Should we say it is impossible to be faster at age 40 then 39? Maybe at 40 she has better technique then she had when she was 39? May be she changed her swim wear? I have seen some pretty unique athletes over 40 years of age.

Do you really think anyone swimming a fifty or one hundred race are going to check their heart rates. Would they say to themselves oh my heart rate is beating too fast? Next race I will swim slower so my heart does not beat that fast. Cardiac output is the product of heart rate and stroke volume. Your maximum heart rate declines with age, as does stroke volume, so your cardiac output declines as well.

How important is V02-max in the 50 free, a race that lasts twenty odd seconds and in which some swimmers breath only once or not at all? That is just one parameter affected by the aging process. Interestingly, studies have shown that women see a greater decline in their performance in shorter races, which is in contrast to men.