Dara Torres

Dara Grace Torres (born April 15, 1967) is an American former competitive swimmer, who is a 12-time Olympic medalist and former world record-holder in three events.

Torres was born on April 15, 1967, to a family in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Edward Torres, and Marylu Kauder.

Her father was a real estate developer and casino owner, originally from Cuba; her mother Marylu was a former American model.

Torres grew up in Beverly Hills, California, the fifth of six children and the older of two girls.

As a seven-year-old, she followed in the footsteps of her older brothers by joining their community YMCA for swimming practice; afterward, she signed up for the swimming club in Culver City to train.

At 14, she won the national open championship in the 50-yard freestyle by defeating the then-current champion, Jill Sterkel, a college junior.

She attended the Westlake School for Girls (now Harvard-Westlake School), and competed for the Westlake swim team under coach Alison Esses from the seventh grade through her sophomore year in high school.

She was also a member of the Westlake basketball, gymnastics, and volleyball teams.

During her 1983–84 high school junior year, she left home to swim for the Mission Viejo Nadadores in Mission Viejo, California, while training for her first Olympics under coach Mark Schubert.

Torres is the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008), and at age 41, the oldest swimmer to earn a place on the U.S. Olympic team.

After the 1984 Olympics, Torres returned to the Westlake School to graduate in 1985.

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Torres was a member of the winning U.S. women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay team, swimming in the first-round qualifying heat and earning a gold medal in the event final.

Her winning teammates in that final included Nancy Hogshead, Jenna Johnson, and Carrie Steinseifer; Jill Sterkel and Mary Wayte also swam in the event's second-round qualifying heat.

Torres accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where she swam for the Florida Gators swimming and diving team in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) under coach Randy Reese from 1986 to 1989.

In her four years as a Gator swimmer, Torres won nine Southeastern Conference (SEC) individual championships, including the 50-yard freestyle (1987, 1988, 1989), 100-yard freestyle (1987, 1988, 1989), 200-yard freestyle (1987), and 100-yard butterfly (1988, 1989); she was also a member of 12 of the Gators' SEC championship relay teams.

Torres won three NCAA individual national championships (50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly) in 1988; and was a member of six of the Gators' NCAA championship relay teams, including the 400-yard freestyle relay in 1986; the 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays, and the 400-yard freestyle relay in 1988; and the 200-yard and 400-yard medley relays in 1989.

She was named the SEC Athlete of the Year in 1988, SEC Female Swimmer of the Year in 1987 and 1989, and earned 28 All-American swimming honors—the maximum number possible during a college career.

Torres also lettered in volleyball at Florida, playing the sport in her fifth year after having exhausted her NCAA eligibility in swimming.

For the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Torres qualified for the U.S. Olympic women's team in one individual event and two relay events.

Torres earned a bronze medal for swimming for the third-place U.S. women's team in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay final, together with teammates Mitzi Kremer, Laura Walker, and Mary Wayte.

She also earned a silver medal for swimming the freestyle leg of the 4×100-meter medley relay for the second-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats, but not the final.

Individually, Torres also placed seventh in the final of the 100-meter freestyle event.

Torres graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1990 and was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1999.

Torres qualified for the U.S. Olympic women's team in a single event for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

She swam the second leg of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay for the winning U.S. team that included Nicole Haislett, Angel Martino, and Jenny Thompson, and earned a gold medal for her efforts in the event final and first-round qualifying heat.

After seven years out of competitive swimming, Torres began to train for an Olympic comeback in 1999 under the guidance of coach Richard Quick.

Torres won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics, when at age 33, she was the oldest member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic swim team.

She has also won at least one medal in each of the five Olympics in which she has competed, making her one of only a handful of Olympians to earn medals in five different Games.

She won five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, but saved her best for two of the major relay events of the U.S. Olympic women's team.

She swam the second leg for the winning U.S. women's team in final of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay that included Amy Van Dyken, Courtney Shealy, and Jenny Thompson.

Torres won a second gold medal for anchoring the winning U.S. team in the 4×100-meter medley relay, together with teammates B.J. Bedford, Megan Quann, and Jenny Thompson in the final.

Individually, Torres also earned bronze medals – her first Olympic medals in individual events – in each of the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter butterfly and the 100-meter freestyle, tying teammate and rival Jenny Thompson for third place in the last event.

At 33 years old, Torres became the oldest woman to win an Olympic medal in swimming.

She was the oldest member of the U.S. Olympic swim team, but won more medals (five) than any other U.S. team member.

On August 4, she set a new American record in the 50-meter freestyle of 24.53 seconds, breaking her own record of 24.63 seconds set at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

On August 1, 2007, at age 40 and just 16 months after giving birth to her first child, Torres won the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 50-meter freestyle, 4×100-meter medley relay, and 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and won silver medals in all three events.

Torres has won 12 Olympic medals (four gold, four silver, four bronze), one of three women with the most Olympic women's swimming medals.

The others are fellow Americans Jenny Thompson and Natalie Coughlin.

In November 2013, she was named as a recipient of the 2014 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award, presented annually to six distinguished former student-athletes on the 25th anniversary of their final school year of athletic eligibility.