Dara Torres was the other swimmers in the water after it had left the pool.
His long career was in excess, finally.
I wanted to enjoy the moment, whenever possible.
The Towers 45 years old, fell short in his attempt to make the Olympics for the sixth time. He finished fourth in the 50 meters freestyle final at night, the only event in the U.S. swimming trials.
"This is actually," said Torres. "Here, I enjoy some quality time" with my daughter, has a good summer and joy for the U.S. team. "
After winning three silver medals at the Beijing Olympics, Torres underwent radical surgery on the knee and put all their hopes in a chaotic race from one end of the pool to another. But Jessica Hardy won in 24.50 seconds, while Kara Lynn Joyce has taken the place of another Olympic 24.73.
"Obviously, I was hoping that the team," said Torres. "That was my goal and disappeared in less than a tenth of a second is difficult, but I do not think there is something that could change."
Torres was denied a trip to London for nine hundredths of a second, coming third behind Christine Magnuson (24.78). Torres smiled when he saw his time (24.82) and hugged both Hardy and Joyce. When Torres finally out, began gesture of her daughter, 6 years, Tessa, to join.
Torres went into the stands, still wet, and took Tessa, who wore a green shirt that said "Mom Vai".
"She is depressed that it was not in London," said Torres. "I told him to take me yet."
For the last eight days of testing, Andrew Gemmell won the grueling 1500 freestyle in 14 minutes, 52.19 seconds. Connor Jaeger was on the right with him all the way, taking second place in London at 14:52:51.
Gemmell has tried to make the team in the open sea, but finished third in the trials. He went to the pool and earned a trip to London.
"I just wanted to treat it as open water, and I knew I had to swim my race," he said. "I knew people would come out faster than me, and I had to run back home."
Torres said he had the same nervous anticipation before his last race as he did in his first attempts of the United States in 1984, when he won a place in the Los Angeles Games. Did not illusions of being a serious contender for a medal in London, but wanted to finish his career with another trip to the Olympics.
"Having 45 years, fourth in the Olympic trials always against girls, almost half my age, very well," said Torres. "I'm used to winning, but it was not the goal here. The aim was to try to do it. I really liked, but I'm very happy with the way I did. I could hang."
Hardy said it was an honor to compete with Torres, who has retired twice, but came back to win five medals at the Sydney 2000 Games, and after three more silver in Beijing. This time, she retired for good.
"I love running Dara," said 25-year-old Hardy. "I wish we did this year, but swimming with his last two years has been very impressive for a safe treatment."
Hardy could not qualify for the Olympics in her best event, the 100 breast, but recovered to win the 100 meters freestyle and 50, topping the return of a failed drug tests, which remained outside the team four years ago. An arbitration panel determined that Hardy was the victim of a tainted supplement.
"If it does well, winning two races here, there would have predicted this in a million years," said Hardy. "I am very happy and grateful for this meeting was how he did it."
Joyce even out of the preliminaries of the 100 pounds, but returned on 50 pounds to make his third Olympic team.
"I have not started the game very well," said Joyce. "I did my best to see and prepare my body. Was my only chance to put it on the line for this 50. I can not believe I did."
Torres was one of the big names missing on the computer.
Katie Hoff, who won three medals in Beijing, could not qualify. So did four times Olympian Amanda Beard, Ed Moses, Garrett Weber-Gale and 40 years, Janet Evans, who returned from a retirement age of 15. Another disappointment was 11 times medalist Natalie Coughlin, who does not have any of his individual events and relays have to settle for a place.
Torres retires with 12 medals, tied with Jenny Thompson, a woman swimmer over llorejada USA.
Before entering into the blocks, Torres recalls his late coach, Michael Lohberg, who died in 2011 of a rare blood disease that was diagnosed shortly before he swam in Beijing.
"I was excited to swim before," said Torres. "When I got my dress with my coach, Anne Tierney, who was crying because I started thinking about Michael. In July 2010, said: 'Let's go for it." I wanted to finish the story that began with him. I did not have, but I know that would have been proud. "
0 comments:
Post a Comment