Dara Torres-Amazing

Maybe she is juicing,I hope not.That doesn't explain the remarkably poor showing of the other female sprinters.remember second place was a BREASTSTROKER.Only Torres has a chance for a medal of the American women sprinters.I wouldn't be surprised if no US women made finals in the 100 FR.What are the Aussies and Germans doing,that is the real question.

I still wish someone would tell us what it takes for her to prove her innocence. Maybe we should kick her off the team. After all, I'm just asking the "hard" questions.

If I were a swim coach, I would be BEGGING her for every piece of information about her training that she would share. The reason is because it may well be that she has figured out something of value. Certainly, if she is clean, this is the case - in fact, it may be a paradigm shift and getting on board early would be smart. Even if dirty (which I doubt), there is some valuable info to be had. At the least, she NEEDS to write/cowrite a training book after the Olympics. In watching the track trials, I noticed that the sprinters seem to be different in terms of technique than they were, say, several years ago. (I've followed the sport for 40 years, so I'm certain of this.) This corresponds to the changes in the focus on training that has hit in the last 10 years for that group. (Yeah, yeah, I know about the dirty ones, but they aren't all dirty.) -LBJ

The only way to have this crowd get behind Torres is to have someone from another country accuse her of blatent doping. Preferably a Frenchman. In a cycling magazine perhaps....

If I were a swim coach, I would be BEGGING her for every piece of information about her training that she would share. The reason is because it may well be that she has figured out something of value. Certainly, if she is clean, this is the case - in fact, it may be a paradigm shift and getting on board early would be smart. Could be a paradigm shift in training, but if so few would have the resources that she does to hire the support staff this method seems to require. For the sake of argument, look at GHJ and Neil Walker. Both are world class sprinters in their 30's, neither of whom have ever retired from the sport. They train in different programs (The Race Club and Longhorn Aquatics). Neither made the Olympic team. And neither swam personal bests or set new ARs at the trials. I believe it is more like that she is 1) an anomaly, or 2) juiced.

Gull revelations you know and I know she is a pretty good swimmer. Why does everyone try to pin something on someone without proof positive? How many others are doing unnatural swimming. I can say one of the best broke the law once he must be juiced. He had 5 great swims he must be juiced. I just believe he is a very good swimmer. Could be a paradigm shift in training, but if so few would have the resources that she does to hire the support staff this method seems to require. For the sake of argument, look at GHJ and Neil Walker. Both are world class sprinters in their 30's, neither of whom have ever retired from the sport. They train in different programs (The Race Club and Longhorn Aquatics). Neither made the Olympic team. And neither swam personal bests or set new ARs at the trials. I believe it is more like that she is 1) an anomaly, or 2) juiced.

I say innocent until proven guilty and as a growing admirer of Dara Torres I hope she is never proven guilty. In the Denver Post last week they had an article on her. She says she will take a test anywhere, anytime. So far so clean. Got Boost

I can't keep track. I thought in the last Dara interview I read or saw (maybe the NYT article), she said she does 5000 meters a day 5x a week. I have no idea how much college sprinters train, really. Tall Paul? Ande? Unfortunately, there aren't many NCAA kids in the finals. As someone noted on the other thread, almost none of the NCAA Champs are on the Olympic team (except maybe Stoval?). They're being outdone by the pros. Do you really think the swimmers in the finals or semi-finals of the 50 free are high yardage swimmers? There are many NCAA kids, or very recent NCAA kids in the finals or semis. Wildman-Tobriner was a top sprinter for Stanford and swam a 18.98 50 SCY free in 2007. Weber-Gale was a top Texas sprinter through 2007. Christine Magnuson was the NCAA champ in 100 fly. Burckle, Soni, Chandler, Nymeyer, etc. are also current NCAA champions. Breeden was a NCAA medalist. Vollmer, etc. The semis in particular are full of Auburn, Stanford, Arizona, and Texas swimmers. I have seen a few of Eddie Reese's workouts and I don't think anyone swam just 5000 yds in season. According to the recent NY Times article Dara trains about 25,000 yds/wk - so I was low in my post above. It also says she trained 65K/week in college. I was guessing that current NCAA sprinters still train about that much - but the sets may be different than they were 20 years ago. Other articles on Dara say her training will cost $100K this year. I wonder if Dara's flexibility is a key to the way she finishes her races so strongly - the natural tightening that occurs for many at the end of a race may be less significant for her? Can she hold her near perfect stroke all the way to the end - maintaining efficiency where others fall apart?

Gull...you know and I know she is a pretty good swimmer. Why does everyone try to pin something on someone without proof positive? How can anyone still so readily and without question accept unbelievable accomplishments in sport as legitimate and untainted? GHJ and Neil Walker are pretty good swimmers, too.

Oh, I don't know.....maybe because there is not an iota, not even a hint that she is doing anything illegal......she is holding her arms out and letting them test her any time they want.....