Flashback! •Four Years Ago Today…

PHOENIX, Ariz. August 10. WHAT were you doing on August 10, 2000?

It would be a good guess to say that if you are an American, you were either following, or maybe even competing at the 2000 US Olympic Swimming Trials. The stage was the IUPUI Natatorium and the main characters were Dara Torres, Megan Quann and Ed Moses.

•On August 10, 2000, Dara Torres penned her name in the history books in a couple of different chapters. The 33-year-old Stanford swimmer, still floating from the American record she had set in prelims of the 100 fly with a time of 57.58, swam to a second place finish in the final behind teammate, Jenny Thompson. This finish qualified her to become the first American woman ever to swim in four Olympic Games (Jill Sterkel qualified for four Olympic teams, but was unable to swim at the 1980 Games due to the US boycott). It also made her the oldest US woman ever to qualify for the Olympic swim team.

•Ed Moses was in action next. He swam to an American record in the 100 breaststroke final, with a time of 1:01.74. A 17-year-old unknown named Brendan Hansen finished third, unaware that the disappointment of this day in 2000 would help to fuel his fire four years later in Long Beach to produce two world records.

•16-year-old Megan Quann took the 100 breaststroke by storm. Touching at 1:07.12 in prelims, she set a new American record and added her name to the notable list of underage breaststroke phenoms. A fellow member of that club, Amanda Beard, went on to take eighth in the final of that race.

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