By John Lohn
BEIJING, China, August 17. A fingertip. That's all that separated Dara Torres from the gold medal in the 50 freestyle, won by Germany's Britta Steffen to complete the sprint double. Still, Torres has made history this week, her silver-medal performance as a 41-year-old an accomplishment that is difficult to fathom.
Already the gold medalist in the 100 freestyle, Steffen charged into the wall and touched in the slimmest margin ahead of Torres. Steffen posted the second-fastest time ever in the event, a 24.06 clocking just edging the 24.07 of Torres. Winning her 11th career Olympic medal, Torres lowered her American record by .18 to continue her fairytale comeback to the sport.
A little more than two years ago, Torres was enjoying life away from the pool. Pregnant with her daughter, Tessa, she decided to hop in the pool as a way to keep in shape. Now, she's a five-time Olympian whose latest comeback added another medal to her impressive haul. As important, she has sent a message that age is merely a number and has inspired the forty-something realm that anything is possible.
Well behind off the start, Australian teenager Cate Campbell used much of the lap catching up to the field. She obviously did a good job of it as Campbell picked up the bronze medal in a time of 24.17, just ahead of the 24.25 posted by her countrywoman, Libby Trickett. The gold medalist in the 100 fly and silver medalist in the 100 free, Trickett holds the world record in the 50 free at 23.97.
The Netherlands' Marleen Veldhuis, the former world-record holder in the splash-and-dash, finished in fifth place in 24.26. American Kara Lynn Joyce touched in sixth (24.63) and the field was completed by the Netherlands' Hinkelien Schreuder (24.65) and Belarus' Aleksandra Gerasimenya (24.77).
Results: 2008 Olympic Games - Swimming
Premium Members - Search More About: Britta Steffen
Reaction Time Comments
August 16, 2008 Dara Torres is amazing! She may not have won gold but her story is one for the ages. What an astonishing comeback for a 41 year old mother! Congratulations to Dara! Submitted by: squiggles255
August 16, 2008 Dara is incredible. 24.07 is amazing. All congrats to Steffen for a great swim but the story is really Dara. At 41 she gives all of us old timers hope. Submitted by: teamwiess
August 16, 2008 well done australia!! what am amazing leg by leisel jones. she really is the queen of breaststroke. america put up a good fight too and came closer than expected to the leaders. the chinese swimmers did great to come home for bronze with a fantastic finish by pang. Submitted by: Tornado
August 16, 2008 really didnt expect the upset to come from mellouli. after the fantastic swim by hackett in the prelims, i thot the gold was his for sure. it was a little heartbreaking to see hackett's quest for a triple win in the 1500 to end with a final sprint that saw him finish less than a second away from glory.
on a seperate note... mellouli was quite disrecpectful to get out of his lane to celebrate when the last guy hasn't even come in yet. Submitted by: Tornado
August 16, 2008 Who is Dara's daughter's father? How come he never goes to the meets? Submitted by: crafto
August 16, 2008 It was a great race! But better fairytale end would be Dara and Britta to tie... Submitted by: TomMaster
August 16, 2008 Wow, now that I have finally seen the race, notice 50 of the sprinters did the grab start!! That is the highest percentage in all of the Olympic swimming for 2008. Four swimmers, including the winner Steffen, Tricket (AUS) and both of the Dutch girls used the grab start. None of this foolish reaction crap, the grab start gets you out faster to 15 meters than any other start. Submitted by: Brasse
August 16, 2008 Brasse, the argument is still there for the grab start in the sprints. We have entered an age where most kids are taught track starts, and we spent a lot of time getting all worked up about "reaction time" and we even have that nifty little gadget on the blocks to measure that.
This has been somewhat diregarded in recent years as you see most elite sprinter women in the world going back to the grab start because it has been found that reaction time and how fast you get off the block means nothing if you don't have velocity. Most sprinters are looking for a more important variable these days, which is speed/velocity to 15 meters and quite simply, two legs working as pistons and drivers together are more powerful than one. That's what wins races. And this has been a trend that is starting to grow "from yesteryear".
But the problem is that there are still a lot of people out there that are not comfortable enough with their leg drive to risk it.
On the men's side, if you look outside this generation of sprinters in the last 2 years, the men we have always thought of as the "gold" standard in sprinting were two footers. Biondi (always a grab starter), Jager and Hall Jr (who I believe both started as 2 footers and then moved to tracks), and of course Popov. Popov, dead last off the blocks, but speed at 15meters was not in doubt. And Popov in a LZR would still be the WR holder in my humble opinion or at the least, right on top of it. Remeber, he broke that record in a speedo and a pair of goggles.....Pure Popov. No bodysuit because he wanted the world to know it was "just him" (I know, I know...it was a time trial).
There are probably more swimmers out there that should use a 2 foot start, but it's hard to get past the "reaction time" stigma these days. Maybe these women will change things.
Anyway, that is what I have heard.
Submitted by: rcoach
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