Stretching for Gold
Thursday August 7, 2008
As a former competitive swimmer (many years ago, in my youth) I always look forward to the chance to watch swimming in prime time, which only happens about every four years as the Olympic Games roll around. One of the major swimming stories of this summer's Beijing Games is Dara Torres, the 41-year-old mother who will make history next week when she competes in her fifth Olympics. When reading about Torres' comeback (her story has been featured in New York Times Magazine and Time Magazine, amongst many others), I was interested to see that she credits some of her current success to something called resistance stretching. A little internet research turned up her trainers, Inovative Body Solutions. I think some of their stretches look a lot like yoga poses, though the emphasis on resistance and repetitive movements set IBS (a very unfortunate acronym) apart. Could this be the next fitness craze? Will Torres win gold? Stay tuned...
Comments
My husband was a competitive sweimmer in high school and college. Did quite well, actually. But swimming is the main event we watch at our house, too.
Wow, coming back from retirement at 41 and competing at the Olympics? That is very impressive. While I don’t doubt she is in great shape, I am skeptical whether or not she uses drugs. We’ve seen a lot of athletes admitting doping in past events (including olympics). The US team broke a new record yesterday for the 4 x 100m of swimming. They smashed the old record by 4 seconds, which is HUGE! I really think all this is more related to drugs and doping than an actual good body condition. That’s just me though…
In Torres’ case, she has been a part of an intensive drug-testing program just to counter the suspicions that she has used drugs. Of course, nothing is fool-proof, but it would seem pretty foolish to volunteer for that program if you were using something. I tend to think that she is just a pretty amazing physical specimen. Also because her race is so short, her career has had this longevity she wouldn’t have as a distance swimmer.
I saw that relay, it was pretty amazing! I also think they are making faster and faster suits and pools and this contributes. Obviously, I don’t want to believe they are doping! I hope I’m right.