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 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. 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. 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. Early years 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.