Mama Mia-Torres takes on fifth Olympics at 41
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
LOS ANGELES, July 22 (AFP): In a sport littered with precocious prodigies, 41-year-old swimming mum Dara Torres shatters the mould.
Torres was a talented teen herself when she won her first Olympic swimming gold in Los Angeles in 1984.
Now she'll tackle her fifth Games campaign in Beijing alongside team-mates and rivals young enough to be her children.
US superstar Michael Phelps, 23, calls Torres his "sort-of mom."
Torres, whose daughter Tessa was born in 2006, says she prefers to think of herself as a "big sister" or maybe "aunt" to her team-mates.
"It's nice to be able to be there for the kids if they have questions," Torres says. "They probably feel comfortable talking to me. I feel like I'm on their level on one hand, but I have all this experience on the other hand that I'm maybe not on their level.
"I'll take that as a compliment that Phelps refers to me as the mom, but I don't know if the kids think that."
Torres was a talented teen herself when she won her first Olympic swimming gold in Los Angeles in 1984.
Now she'll tackle her fifth Games campaign in Beijing alongside team-mates and rivals young enough to be her children.
US superstar Michael Phelps, 23, calls Torres his "sort-of mom."
Torres, whose daughter Tessa was born in 2006, says she prefers to think of herself as a "big sister" or maybe "aunt" to her team-mates.
"It's nice to be able to be there for the kids if they have questions," Torres says. "They probably feel comfortable talking to me. I feel like I'm on their level on one hand, but I have all this experience on the other hand that I'm maybe not on their level.
"I'll take that as a compliment that Phelps refers to me as the mom, but I don't know if the kids think that."