Forty-One-Year-Old Swimmer Hopes To Break Olympic Record

Published May 8th, 2008

By Nicol Jenkins
Editor

While most 41 year olds celebrate
birthdays relaxing with family and friends, Dara Torres of Parkland was up at the crack of dawn training to qualify for the 2008 Olympics at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center.

In fact, Torres was swimming laps around most of the 20 year olds in hopes of breaking an Olympic record- becoming the first female swimmer over 40 to compete in the Olympic Games.

“She’s 41 years old today. It’s her birthday today and she is a swimming sensation at that age,” her coach Michael Lohberg told the Our Town News April15. “She has made such a comeback.”

Torres has already competed in four Olympics Games including 1984, 1988, 1992 and 2000. She has taken home four Gold medals, one Silver, and four Bronze medals. After 2000, she decided to take a break to start a family and worked as a television sports reporter.

However, her desire to dive into swimming once again came out of a longing for the sport.
“When I was pregnant with my daughter, I realized that I really missed the sport and the competition and decided to give it a shot,” Torres said, adding, “At a meet for the World Masters someone said it would be great to see a 40-year-old swim in the Olympics, and that really got me going.”

After the birth of her daughter, Torres began training to qualify for the 2008 Olympics for the U.S. Women’s Swim Team for the 50 and 100 freestyle. The trials will be held in July in Omaha, Nebraska. Only two swimmers in each category will qualify. The Olympic Games begin August 8 in Beijing.
Torres swims five days a week and lifts weights four days a week at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center in preparation for the upcoming trials and to keep up with the younger swimmers.

“A benefit is having a coach like Michael who knows what I can and cannot do with my age. Also, it is a lot about recovery. I get massages and do stretching exercises after every training session to recover from a day’s work,” she said.

Lohberg believes Torres has the dedication and drive to make it to the Olympics.

“Dara is working like a total professional. She wants to do it. She is so driven with her work ethic and discipline. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.

Other Olympic Hopefuls
Dara Torres is not the only one from the Coral Springs Swim Club vying for the Olympics.

In fact, three from the Coral Springs Swim Club have already qualified including: Vlad Polyakov for the 100-200 breaststroke, Erin Volcan for the 200 backstroke, and Arlene Semeco for the 50 and under freestyle.
Coach Lohberg says there are about 10 swimmers in the Club who could qualify for the Olympics.

Ray Antonov is one of those Olympic hopefuls. He is currently training in hopes of qualifying for the 50-100 freestyle for the Bulgaria team. Two years ago, he moved to Coral Springs to pursue his dreams and began training at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center six days a week while taking graduate classes towards an MBA at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
“I loved swimming from the very first time my mom took me to the pool,” said the 28-year-old.

Unlike some of the other hopefuls, Antonov has already competed at the Olympic Games. In 2004, he swam freestyle on the Bulgaria team but fell short because of an injury.

“I had surgery the night before I left. I had a fever and I couldn’t eat or speak,” he said.

Antonov decided that this will be the year to take home a Gold medal.
“I wanted to swim at my highest level. I love swimming. It’s my life,” he said.
Leila Vaziri is also training in hopes of competing in the 2008 Olympics for the U.S. Women’s Swim Team.

At age 7, Vaziri began swimming at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center and at 12 she joined the Coral Springs Swim Club team with Lohberg as her coach.

“I started swimming here as a little kid, and I was the youngest to be coached by Michael at that point,” said Vaziri.

She then went on to graduate from Coral Springs High School and continued swimming throughout college. Once she graduated she came back home to Coral Springs and dived back into the water to begin training for her lifelong dream of swimming in the Olympics.

At ages 15 and 19, Vaziri went to the Olympic trials to qualify but came up short. Now at 22, she will try once again to qualify for the U.S. swim team for the 2008 Olympics.

Along with other Olympic hopefuls, Vaziri has been training six days a week swimming laps and working out in the gym.

“I told Michael that I would sleep under the bleachers if he told me to, but you can’t go crazy. Michael says it’s about quality not quantity,” she said. “It’s more about maintaining focus and nutrition and getting enough sleep.”

Vaziri attributes improvements in swimming to Coach Lohberg and believes she is lucky to have such a renowned training facility in her own backyard.
“People come from all over the world to train here. I’m very lucky to be from Coral Springs,” she said. “I’ve always been a swimmer. I feel for the water what I don’t on the land. The ultimate dream for any swimmer is the Olympics. It is what all swimmers aspire to.”

Lohberg believes most of his swimmers will make it to the Olympics and bring back Gold medals to Coral Springs.

Torres is training to go all the way. However if she does not qualify, she said this will be her last attempt.

“This is probably it,” she said. “I have a 2-year-old. I want to concentrate on her.”