Behind the Scenes with Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres

“Swimming is just something I had a love with,” says legendary Olympic swimmer, Dara Torres. “Something about diving in the water and feeling one with the water is really what made the decision for me that I wanted to be a swimmer.”

Torres, five-time Olympian and fastest swimmer in American history, demonstrates every day that dreams are achievable at any age. Her most recent win was at age 41 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, making her the oldest swimmer to make a U.S. Olympic team. On top of that, Torres is a mom to a fifteen-year-old daughter named Tessa.

This week, Torres was interviewed by Russell Wolff, VP of ESPN+ and Elon dad to Michael Wolfe ‘24, giving Elon students the amazing opportunity to converse with the inspiring icon. The event was a fundraiser for Elon Hillel called the Family Fall Series designed to engage students and bring together families in new and creative ways. The next one will be on November 10th at 7 pm with the Executive Chef at Yafo Kitchen in Charlotte, NC, Shai Fargian. 

The Edge caught up with Torres to learn about her experiences and stories.

Was there ever a moment that you thought the training was too hard?

“Many moments I felt that. I had many days that were brutal that I wanted to give up. As an elite athlete, you’re training pretty much consumes your day and with swimming in particular you’re looking at a black line underwater for about 4-6 hours a day. So it can become very monotonous but I also retired a number of times because I was burned out from the sport and didn’t like it and sort of had to re-fall in love with the sport again to get back into it. Every time I retired I thought I was done with the sport. The motivation was missing the sport and missing competition.’’

What are some of your most special swimming memories?

‘’Each Olympics was special. The toughest for me was ‘88 in Korea. I think it was just the atmosphere, they had people with guns outside the Olympic village because of all the different politics going on and if we wanted to go anywhere these guys had to come in a cab with us and go with us.’’

What memories do you have of the 1984 Olympics? 

“Los Angeles was unbelievable. Being able to swim in your home city really is beyond thrilling. For my first Olympics, it was an experience where I can say I saw things much differently at the age of 17 than at the age of 41.”

We have many communications majors on this call, as someone who has been interviewed by lots of journalists and as someone who has been a journalist themself do you have any tips for young journalists?

“Make contacts. I started out as a runner, then an intern, then a production assistant, and then I started to get more in front of the camera. I really wanted to learn what goes on behind the scenes too, so if anyone wants to be in front of the camera I highly suggest learning what goes on behind the scenes by doing an internship or whatever you can do to learn.

“It’s very important to keep connections no matter what you do in life. You need to be sincere about it, it is not about using someone it’s about being sincere and getting their point of view on what it takes to be the best you can be in their field.’’

How do you deal with change?

“You’re so used to doing something your whole life it becomes a routine and things are going to be thrown at you like oh my gosh this is not what my routine is and you sort of have to just go with the flow. You’re going to be thrown things in life and you have decided how to deal with them. When you don’t deal with change well you learn and make yourself a better person from that. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.’’

What is your life like now?

“My life revolves around my fifteen-year-old daughter. I really kept up with writing the two books, giving motivational speeches, and working on an all-woman sports talk show for CBS sports that is every month.”

She also shared her pre-meet rituals. Before all races, Torres adorns her lucky goggles that she has worn since she was 14, which were pretty much in pieces when she made her second come back. She also gets massages before races, claiming that you don’t want your hand to slip in the water from the oil, so she rubs her forearms on the starting block so that she can feel her stroke in the water. She also cracks her toes before every race.

Students listened closely to this inside look into an Olympian’s success. 

“Dara is such an inspiration, and having the opportunity to speak to her was an incredible experience,” says Mandi Lichtenstein ‘24. “I had mentioned that the pool was the only place I felt safe and It was humbling to know that she feels the same. Swimming is both of our escapes, and to be able to talk about that and how it (in a way) saved us both was really amazing considering how different our lives are. I was even lucky enough to ask what her favorite pump music is for her ‘behind the blocks’ pre-race routine (we all have one)!”

Photo courtesy of Dara Torres .