The two swimmers attached cords to their waists that forced them to lift the buckets as they tried to swim away from the wall.
It was a brutal exercise.
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Torres, on some of the repeats, lifted her heavier bucket faster than the man moved his. He did not seem surprised nor discouraged. She did not seem satisfied.
“She’s very strong,” Darzi said. “But in 2008, we did the whole bucket. That’s the goal. But we’re not there yet.”
Major reconstructive knee surgery in October 2009, followed by two more minor procedures, proved an unexpectedly difficult challenge. Torres lost strength during the rehabilitation period, and her assumptions about the speed at which she could get it back turned out to be wildly optimistic.
Just more than 12 years ago, as she returned to competition for the 2000 Summer Games after having taken seven years off, it took her just three months to get back into shape. In just four months, she set a personal best in the 50 freestyle. It was so easy. Even in 2008, as national news outlets lined up for access to an aging physical wonder, getting faster did not seem so hard.
There are a number of other 40-something athletes in pro sports — Colorado Rockies pitcher Jamie Moyer, 49; Grant Hill of the Phoenix Suns and Kurt Thomas of the Portland Trail Blazers, both of whom turn 40 this year; goaltender Dwayne Roloson, 42, of the Tampa Bay Lightning — but none whose on-the-job success relies solely on pure explosive speed and power.
“This has definitely mentally and physically been the most challenging Olympics I’ve ever trained for by far,” Torres said. “It’s only been four years since the last one. I don’t know why I’m suddenly feeling the effects of age now, but I am.”
A 5-foot-11 science project
Torres readily admits she seeks every possible means of performance-enhancement within the rules. In her constant attempts to keep age at bay, Torres said, she often feels like a 5-foot-11 science project. In fact, she recently added a second trainer, scientist and neurologist to her team of consultants.
Her advisers say she warns them to be mindful of anti-doping rules, which prohibit the use of steroids, most hormones and many other performance-enhancing substances.
“You just have to be so careful,” Torres said. “You want to follow the [anti-doping] rules and do everything 100 percent right, and so you just have to make sure you are working with people that understand that.”
Given her sculpted physique, late-career excellence and reliance on such an entourage of science and medical advisers, Torres for years has been dogged by assumptions that she must be on something despite her record of never flunking a drug test.
“Unfortunately, Dara has been someone [about whom] people speculate, ‘She’s used drugs, she’s done different things,’ ” her trainer, Andy O’Brien, said. But “it’s very important to her that she doesn’t do anything she’s not supposed to do . . . She’s really, really uniquely gifted . . . [and] she’s fiercely competitive. She’s one of the most intense athletes I’ve ever worked with.”
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