Can Dara Torres have her own thread?

You're right.

I do just parachute in.

When I read something THAT fucking dense.

Even from someone usually as sober as yourself.

 

So your argument is that we have done studies about the way pregnancy affects women's bodies if they want to go on and continue elite level athletic careers? That, say, the New England Journal of Medicine has published research that has focused on just what effects it might have on a woman's body when her hormone levels skyrocket, that EPO levels might jump, or the ability to produce more red blood cells might climb? If they're out there, show them to me. Cancer radically changed Lance Armstrong's body, whether you believe he was using drugs or not. Could pregnancy have changed Dara Torres body?

I don't know. I don't think anyone really knows. What I do think is ridiculous is to assume that Torres' pregnancy had to result in some enormous trauma, and that she would be forever damaged by it and unable to do things she previously did. This may be true of many women. It may be true of most women. It might not be true of all women. I don't think it's madness to wonder if there were actually any benefits to Torres from her pregnancy.

There are a lot of possibilities for what's happening. She takes asthma medication, which can increase lung capacity, so maybe there is your answer. She also had shitty technique and a bitchy attitude for much of her career, but seems to have found some peace now at a later age.

She also might be using drugs that no one can possibly detect. If she is, the woman has bigger balls than anyone on this board or in professional sports, because unlike Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, etc., she's actually gone and asked to be tested more, begged to have her hair, blood, urine, and DNA studied by USADA. If she's cheating, she's perhaps the best cheater in sports, and also perhaps the worst mother in sports, because she'd have had to do some of it while she was nursing.

Now, I'm sure since those last four paragraphs don't fit with your views on the situation, you'll rage and smear verbal poo on the walls, but that's the best explanation I can give for why she might not be doping.

And as I said before, maybe she is. If she is, she's really fucking good at it.

 

I have been fascinated by her ongoing story, am something of a fan of hers, and really hope she is not doping. I've covered and followed swimming for some time now, and I think she's good for the sport. She always has been, just for her talent and the type of person she is.

The fact that she is making her effort to come back and do what she's doing at this point is a testament and personification of that, whether she's actually doing anything, doping-wise, or not.

I can get past the skin/aerodynamics questions, even the effects-of-pregnancy/childbirth questions. I figure there are probably offsetting factors and varying individual cases when it comes to such issues.

What keeps me from getting past the doping questions for good or for certain, is, quite simply, her age itself. Especially if she's competing in a sprint event.

Don't people, in every walk of life, whatever they do and not just on the elite level, tend to naturally slow down, and get thicker/heavier, as they get older? And not in a muscular, good way, either?

There is a common and known phenomenon in distance and endurance events/sports, where older athletes often do improve their performances as time goes on, and can be regulars among the top finishers.

But that is usually attributed to maturity, cerebral and more patient approaches to races, smart strategic tactics and an emphasis on developing strength and stamina, not necessarily speed, per se, in order to post such performances.

None of that, however, applies very much in the case of sprint events.

And so, I can't help but wonder and ask the questions. It may not be fair, and I almost wish a drug test on Torres would be made public just for the purpose of proving that, once and for all.

 

Not really sure what you mean here, WT. Like a drug test on TV? She's drug tested after every single race. I think she's tested three times a week. They're not public in the sense that reporters are there watching, but for her to fake a test (as opposed to beat it) with USADA there watching her, it would have to be a conspiracy on a grand scale.

 

I wonder if Dick Pound has an opinion on this. Think he'd be willing to answer a question or two?

 

Does she wear one of those suits as well?

Although I suppose Coughlin probably also wears one.

 

You know, as I think about that more, you're probably right about that, DD.

If she had had a bad result/faked test, it probably wouldn't have gotten past everybody...

I guess my main point, and the thing makes me question, is that loss of speed most everyone else experiences as they grow older, and that some of the things that may apply in distance events do not, and cannot, in sprints.

I mean, Torres was the top Olympic qualifier. Taking it down a level or two from elite, I can't imagine a healthy, strong 22-year-old who swims sprints regularly ever losing to a 41-year-old for no apparent reason.

So, I guess it just boggles my mind that it would happen on the elite level.

But then, that's part of what makes this such an amazing story, isn't it? I, and everyone else, should all probably just enjoy it for what it is, and give her the benefit of the doubt unless/until it's shown that she doesn't deserve it.

Again, you're probably right about the testing. I'm just like Dara, I guess. I'd like to see the questions stopped/resolved. Maybe that's just up to us and our always-cynical, now-suspicious natures, though.

 

Dick Pound thinks everyone is on drugs.

 

Is she the one who used to do the Tae Bo commercials?

 

Yes, she is.

 

You keep saying pregnancy.... She isn't pregnant. Her body DID go through an enormous trauma, giving birth.

Are you arguing against childbirth as a major body trauma?

If these suits are such that they can surmount the body's dilapidation after birth.... then what a fucking travesty they are.

 

Are we in colonial times where people actually believe a woman's body is ruined after childbirth?

Dara Torres is one of the fittest people I've every seen in my life. It's not as if she pushed out a kid, ran to the pool, then broke the American record in the 50 free. It was 18 months later. We're not talking about some regular 41-year-old woman here. We're talking about a woman who has been one of the best athletes in the world since she was 17.