Torres could show mother superior
Sunday, August 17th, 2008
When her teenage “daughters” on the United States team get all giggly and goofy in their dorm at the Athletes’ Village, America’s swimming mom is tempted to tell them to pipe down and chill out. “Then I have to remind myself that I was once them,” Dara Torres says.
Everybody else does, though, and more than a few skeptics find it odd that a woman in a speed race can be faster than she was when she was half her age. Torres knew there would be whispers about her doping when she made her comeback, seven years after she won five medals in Sydney. So she volunteered for Project Believe, a rigorous US Anti-Doping Agency program that subjects Torres to frequent testing.
It also has made her a figure of fascination, if not awe, among her younger teammates, most of whom weren’t alive when Torres competed in her first Games. “She’s like a cool mom who wants to hang out and bond with the team,” says Christine Magnuson.
Tags: athletes village, dorm, fascination, games, giggly, magnuson, medals, mom, seven years, skeptics, speed race, sydney, teammates, teenage daughters, united states team, whispers