Dara Torres-Amazing

This is really insulting and the type of "left-handed" statement my wife has lived with for 10 years now. It implies a lack of family focus by working. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not either/or. It really really bothers me to read this and if you were to say it to any working mom, you could expect a steely glare in return. In many cases money is the prime reason but for many others a career is also rewarding, with the money being a nice bonus. OMG, it's the end of the world as I agree with Geek 100% on this one!!!

Hi Paul. This is Dave Swenson. I swam with John Smith at Texas. I know him well...probably too well. I also know Ande, Anna Lea, and probably a few others on this board. I finally got back into Masters swimming this summer after a LONG layoff....we'll see how long it lasts. This thread has now reached the point of obsurdity... but I'm LOVIN' IT!!:bow: Out of curiosity, do you have the Longhorn tattoo also? If you do, did you get it when you were 59 like John? Or, have you grown up?

This is really insulting and the type of "left-handed" statement my wife has lived with for 10 years now. It implies a lack of family focus by working. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not either/or. It really really bothers me to read this and if you were to say it to any working mom, you could expect a steely glare in return. In many cases money is the prime reason but for many others a career is also rewarding, with the money being a nice bonus. Oh yeah, swimming is good for you. While I may own a $7K trike, at least I haven't spent that much on size 64 extra husky tech suits like the civil-union Smith couple. Ya know, it is sad that she gets judged for it. I stayed home with my kids for 17 years. When I made the decision to do that, I had a fairly high position in my company, was well respected, and I got a lot of flack from some working women for my decision. I did not get flack for going back to work full-time as now my youngest is HS it is viewed that I am not needed as much......which really is very untrue. I just wish we would stop judging any of these decisions as wrong or right and recognize it is individual, and that each family finds its way with the life they have. Sorry, sent off on a tagent....back to slamming or not slamming Dara, and I have to get back to work. This thread is so amusing it just sucks ya in.

No tattoo. I'm too pretty to mark up like that. Oh man, you are gonna fit right in. Hopefully we can find someone from Texas who isn't such a crying whiner about everything. We can't take many more girlie Texas boys so hopefully you will balance out Jean Daisy Buttercup Smith.

She is a late bloomer with a high VO2 max. WOW - that's a low blow, this could get heated now.

I'm guilty of it - went back to working part-time so I could pay for the Cervelo and Cannondale. You are such an elitist...some of us here can't afford nice toys as we are stay at home, non-dads who spend all our time trying to bash Title IX, working mom's, Rush Limbaugh-Alan Combs and glamorous/fast people that we are actually really just jealous of because we never were good enough...so some of us in middle age (not me) get tattoo's trying to relive what little glory days...but because we are so miserable in our pathetic lives we come here and try and be "understood" but end up getting PM's from the moderators about being political..so we really have no friends here either...but we'll still got to nationals and taunt each other and in some cases win beer bets because we really hate our families we can't afford for not letting us train full time and teach TaeBo... OK..to much coffee...time to grab my (wifes) push mower and clean up the 10' x 20' piece of lawn we haven't torn out yet so we can find the dog bomb's. Is it taper time yet?

In the interest of trying to make sure that this becomes the longest thread ever, I'd just like to say that I think that the "Dara doubters" have missed the obvious and perfectly legal explanation for her performance: She is a late bloomer with a high VO2 max. (For you newbies, this has a long and PAINFUL history.) -LBJ NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the quote that got me (from the NYT article on Torres): Driving home one night from a sushi dinner, Torres’s partner, David Hoffman, admitted that he’ll be relieved when Torres emerges from her Olympic training tunnel. “We don’t spend as much time together,” he told me as he idled his car outside their home. “We can’t go on a vacation.” Torres had driven home separately with Tessa. Hoffman watched the swimmer standing in their driveway at dusk, her mind clearly turned toward getting Tessa to bed, so that she could get nine hours of sleep herself. “I can’t wait until this is over,” Hoffman sighed. “It’ll have been two years.” Surely one doesn't have to be a diehard conservative (which I definitely am not) to be just a little turned off by this? As inspirational as her feats have been, DT had nothing left to prove. She's already been to the Olympics 4 times... I think athletes are a bit like professional dancers, in that there's a shelf life on their careers and they have to do what it is they do while they still can. If her partner is pouting a bit now, well, I'm sure he'll be happy to share in the glory if she wins a medal. Do we ever hear from the wives/girlfriends of male olympic hopefuls about how they feel about all their husbands/boyfriends training? No, because it's just assumed that the little woman is going to be the one to put up with it and do the sacrificing. I don't think any athlete sets out deciding to be a role model. In fact, I doubt they really care what people think, they just want to do their sport.

Man. Y'all are taking me the wrong way. Men give up promotions where they would get more money so that they can have more time with their families. My dad did it. My statement was not meant to be a a criticism of working women. Our society is money-driven and we are now paying the price. Until the last year or so, it has been all about who has the most - the biggest house, the biggest car, etc. All these take money and to get it, you've got to work your butt off or do something illegal. In our society, making money has gotten to be the big priority while time with the family has gone out the window. Gosh, with all of this drive to make money, we can't swim as much anymore. I'm guilty of it - went back to working part-time so I could pay for the Cervelo and Cannondale. Really, I enjoy working so that I can put the years I spent burning the midnight oil to use. It is rewarding to be a part of the working world regardless of money. I gave up a promotion so that I could spend more time browsing USMS forums. With all of the posting going on, it's hard to believe anyone around here works full time :mooning:

To be a role model. No one would have wanted me as role model. Until I married Chuckie it was not nice to follow me to the drink fests. Never trained in earnest in my life. I was a big guy who could swim a little. But I had a real life roll model after I married. She raised six children with very little help from me. I did pitch in sometimes. She taught me not to curse and swear in front of children. She was my very first love and has always been there for me through good and bad. She still stands by her man.