Evergreen Torres battles odds to reach 5th Olympics

By Steve Keating

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Dara Torres' family seemed to get a whole lot bigger on Friday after the 41-year-old mother clinched a spot at her fifth Olympics with an inspiring win in the 100 meters freestyle at the U.S. trials.

"Dara, I call her my mom," said Michael Phelps after watching Torres ignite the near capacity crowd with her stunning victory.

"What is she 41, with a kid...it's extremely impressive to have her come out here and win the 100 free tonight. It's going to be fun."

While Torres was thrilled to make her fifth Olympics, she made it painfully clear the experience has been anything but fun, grimacing at the thought of returning to the Qwest Centre pool on Saturday for the 50 freestyle.

Battling the odds of age and a creaky body that requires hours of massage, stretching and testing after every race and workout, the evergreen Torres said she had not expected to win the 100 freestyle -- and was not even sure she had.

"With my age I couldn't see the numbers on the board," said Torres, who won the first of her nine Olympic medals at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, before Phelps was even born.

"They have to start making them bigger, I didn't know I had won at first.

"I'm shocked. I don't think it's hit me yet that I made my fifth Olympic team but I'm thrilled.

ACHING BODY

"But it really, really, really hurt. I didn't think it was going to hurt that bad. I kept thinking, where is the wall.

"I know how my body feels right now. I can only imagine what it is going to feel like in the morning," she added.

"I'm just going to be smart on how swim in the morning and not go for an American record and then go for it Sunday night."

Already the oldest swimmer to at age 33 to win an Olympic medal with two bronze at the 2000 Games, Torres will add another milestone to her resume in Beijing where she will become the oldest American swimmer to compete at an Olympics.

The mother of a two-year-old daughter, Torres may be perfectly suited to fill the role of Olympic team den mother but would be happier if she were considered more of an older sister.

"I would prefer to be known as a big sister to my team mates, although I am as old as some of their parents," smiled Torres, who has also recently posed for photoshoots for a men's magazine.