At 40 years old, Brett Favre had statistically the best football season of his career. The great Satchel Paige, after a stellar Negro-League career, was a Major League Baseball Rookie at age 42. At 46, Gordie Howe won the World Hockey Association’s MVP trophy.
And now there’s Dara Torres. Torres is already internationally recognized as a role model for Masters athletes and weekend warriors everywhere after winning 3 silver medals at the 2008 Olympics at the age of 41. But now, bionic knee and all, Torres is back in the pool training for 2012. She announced her decision on the Regis and Kelly Lee morning show, which was being guest hosted by CNN personality Anderson Cooper. If she successfully qualifies for the London Olympics at 46 years old, it will be her 6th. No other swimmer has competed in more than 4. She will have been an Olympian in four separate decades since her debut in 1984, which was before the vast majority of her American teammates were born, let alone aware of who “Dara Torres” was.
About 3 weeks ago, Torres’ Twitter feed began showing posts that she was getting back in the water, and in her words “training with the kids.” In March, Torres underwent a really sci-fi sounding knee surgery that you can read all about here. Her recovery has obviously been very successful, and if everything goes according to plan, she hopes to compete in 2012.
Swimming in the Olympics in 46 shows how far swimming has come. Tracy Caulkins, who many believe to be the best swimmer ever, retired at only 21 years old-less than half of Torres’ age, even giving up her last year of college eligibility to do so. Caulkins is a swimmer that most current athletes have never seen compete live, because she retired in 1984, but she is only 4 years older than Torres. The thought of that is mind-boggling.
We wish Dara the best of luck in her comeback attempt. I suspect that she will take the new “Natalie Coughlin” approach to training, with a lot less time spent in the pool, and a lot more time using cross-training methods like yoga. She will likely attempt no more than the 3 events she swam in Beijing, if not fewer, if her comeback is successful.