Dara Torres-Amazing

that article even said that she has her blood drawn monthly as per HER own request to fight off the vicious rumors with a more comprehensive drug screen than a simple urine sample. Talk about sticking it to them.

Trying to compare any swimmer to a baseball user is not fair to either party. Lest ye forget that baseball did not ban some of the substances that McGwire, Bonds, Giambi et al. used until very recently. The assault on the recordbooks may have been aided, but for the most part, it was not against the laws of their sport. While the fact that Dara can smoke her times from her days in college 20+ years ago is truly an amazing feat, I do NOT think it is an unreasonable feat. I mean, its a frickin 50. :bolt:

When 39 year-old Dara Torres set two World Masters swimming records during the Fort Lauderdale Masters Challenge Swim Meet a few years ago, both records were the fastest ever swam by any female Masters Swimmer. Torres' time, 22.34 in the 50-yard Free, broke the old record of 23.53 from 1996 held by Sandy Neilson-Bell. That time was faster than she swam in college, (22.38) in 1988. Sandy’s time was within 0.1 of a second of her college time.

If she was "muscling" her freestyle I think you would see it. Her stroke is so efficient, fluid and flawless. Put reasonabe strength into the equation and wala. Strength can be maintained and sometimes peaked in athletes at late 30's.

I would assume these are legit times. (shrug) Maybe I'm just naive but it wouldn't have occurred to me to think she was cheating.

No matter how hard I try, I do not buy it. No one’s asking you to buy anything unless it’s your fellow members of the flat earth society.:rolleyes: At least they have “Scientific data and measurements backing up our claims” and they are working to “Dispel common myths about "proof" regarding round earth theory” and “Uncover the conspiracy to withhold the truth from the public”:dunno::frustrated::cane:

While the fact that Dara can smoke her times from her days in college 20+ years ago is truly an amazing feat, I do NOT think it is an unreasonable feat. I mean, its a frickin 50. :bolt: I agree. 40 years old...isn't old. Anyone can break open a can of whoop ass at 40.

It's easy and tempting to be cynical here. So many athletic breakthroughs lately are chemically enhanced. However, in every era there are athletes whose performance changes the fundamentals of a sport: - Bruce Sutter in baseball (so-so righty invents split finger fastball and makes Hall of Fame) - *** Fosbury (first to high-jump with back to the bar. Now everyone does.) Could Dara be one of these? If so, it would have to be her training. This is emphasized in all of the articles I've seen. She swims less, does more weightlifiing. She spends a disproportionate amount of time stretching and working on balance - two skills that deteriorate with age. It sort of makes sense - by 40, an elite swimmer will have pretty much maximized what they can do with technique. Things like balance and flexibility will be keys to improvement. I don't want to sound like a Pollyanna, but it is a possibility. If so, it can be repeated, just like Sutter and Fosbury. There will be a lot of imitators. In 10 years, you would see a lot of Daras. Not saying it will happen, but if it does, it would be evidence she's legit. If it doesn't . . .

If she was "muscling" her freestyle I think you would see it. Her stroke is so efficient, fluid and flawless. Put reasonable strength into the equation and wala. Strength can be maintained and sometimes peaked in athletes at late 30's. Well, that's probably a big part of it isn't it? Technique is huge in swimming, so maybe she was physically capable of even faster times when she was young and just didn't have quite good enough technique to take advantage of it at the time. Using a much less illustrious example (moi), I was in exceptionally good shape in my 20's from running, cycling, cross-country skiing and weight training, but could barely swim 2 lengths of a 25 meter pool. Now I'm old and fat and not in anywhere near such good condition, but can easily swim a mile or more all at once and can occasionally pass much younger and fitter looking people (I don't know who is more surprised, them or me). In any other aerobic sport this would look like an impossible transformation, but I know it's because I've spent hours and hours trying to improve my technique.

5{!apprentice;114635]that article even said that she has her blood drawn monthly as per HER own request to fight off the vicious rumors with a more comprehensive drug screen than a simple urine sample. Talk about sticking it to them. Another olympic medal swimmer who was very voiceferous in her rejection of doping, claimed to be the most tested swimmer in the world at one point, volunteered blood for testing and even campaigned for blood tests be mandatory for top athletes was Michelle Smith. If Darra is doing this clean then it is amazing and an example to us all of what can be achieved despite age. Personally I have my doubts.