Comeback Olympian...at 41!

As we count down to the Summer Games, there's a swimmer to keep your eye on. No, it's not Michael Phelps, but Dara Torres, a veritable pool powerhouse who is gearing up for her fifth Olympics. The 41-year-old mother wowed the nation in July when she took first place in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, outpacing Natalie Coughlin, 16 years her junior, by .05 seconds.

As if that wasn't thrilling enough, two days later Torres torpedoed through the 50-meter freestyle at the record-smashing speed of :24.25. It was one of two American records she broke at the trials. Winning the freestyle races, Torres became the oldest swimmer to ever make the cut for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. All told, she qualified for four Beijing events. Of course, if she medals in Beijing they won't be lonely in her trophy case. She's won a total of nine medals in the 1984, '88, '92 and '00 Summer Games, falling just short of the 12-medal record for a female American swimmer set by Jenny Thompson.

Facing early whispers about performance-enhancing drug use head on, Torres approached the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and offered to take any and every drug test possible. As part of a USADA pilot program, she's undergone random blood and urine tests at least a dozen times since March.

But heading off potential doping suspicions isn't the swimmer's only hurdle. Just weeks after the trials, Torres' longtime coach, Michael Lohberg, was diagnosed with a fatal blood disease. While Lohberg won't be cheering poolside as Torres races in Beijing, she'll still have her sprint coach, strength coach, two people who stretch her and several massage therapists close at hand to keep her age-defying athleticism finely tuned.

The Women's 50m Freestyle Final occurs at the tail-end of the Summer Games, so don't miss it: August 16, 10:00 p.m.
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