In the water, they're ageless
41-year-old Olympian inspires generations of swimmers
Joan Hayes was watching the Olympic swim trials on TV while exercising on her crosstrainer when she felt her adrenaline starting to surge. A swimmer she'd never heard of named Dara Torres was tearing up the pool in the 50-meter freestyle, and she was 41 years old.
"She was beating kids half her age," marveled Hayes, 45, a Newton marathon runner and personal trainer who swims herself, but mostly for fun. "She's in incredible shape."
Two days later - with Torres in mind - Hayes jumped into the pool and stepped up her usual moderate swim pace. "I was totally pumped, thinking I'll set some world records here, in the mile," says Hayes, only half-joking. "I figured, you know what? I can push myself a little harder, if she can."
Every Olympic year, there's a female athlete or two who dazzles the eye and generates a following of disciples, mostly young girls who fall in love with a sport or commit themselves to doing better at it. Interest in girls' gymnastics soared after 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci racked up a perfect 10.0 in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Girls across the country took to the ice after 26-year-old Cammi Granato led her team to the first-ever gold medal in women's hockey in 1998, and when 21-year-old figure skater Sasha Cohen snared an Olympic silver medal in 2006.
But even before she swims in Beijing, Torres, who is ancient by Olympic standards, has turned this expectation on its tail: She's inspired older female swimmers to push harder at their sport. New England has a sizeable population of competitive women swimmers in their 40s, 50s, and into their 80s, many of them members of United States Masters Swimming (USMS), a national organization that sponsors regional, national, and international competitions.
They include 51-year-old Gayle Wettach of Wakefield, who won a Masters world record last year in her age group for the 100-meter individual medley with a time of 1:15.24. There's Jacki Hirsty, 55, of Providence who owns SwimSmart, which offers personal aquatic training: She holds the Masters national record for the 50-meter freestyle (28.54). Beth Estel, 52, a consultant at the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, took first place in May in the Masters national competition for 50-yard breaststroke (34.21). Billie Ann Burrill, 87, of Providence ranked fourth in the world in 2006 in the 100-meter freestyle (2:01.85)
Many of these older swimmers say that despite the prevailing attitude that competitive sports are a young person's game, Torres has showcased something they've known a long time: With swimming, a low-impact sport, it's possible for women who keep pushing themselves to reach an advanced age, clock extraordinary swim times, and remain as cutthroat and competitive as ever.
"The impact on weight-bearing joints such as the ankle, knee, and hip are much less with swimming as compared to a weight-bearing sport such as running," said Michael E. Rogers, research director of the Center for Physical Activity and Aging at Wichita State University in Kansas.
That's why someone like 83-year-old Esther Pelletier is still competing after all these years.
"I have to be better, I want to be better, and I think [Torres] inspires you to be better," said Pelletier, of Andover, who swims four or five times a week at the local YMCA and still dives and does flip turns.
Torres, the mother of a 2-year-old, has won nine Olympic medals; she retired from swimming and returned three times. At the Olympic trials earlier this summer, she broke the American record twice in the 50-meter freestyle. In Beijing she'll swim that event plus the 400 freestyle and 400 medley races.
"It's a lesson to all of us that even though you are getting a little older, you can't just sit back anymore," says Janice Biederman, a 58-year-old Belmont pharmacist and lawyer who swims in triathlons. "I will probably never swim at her level." She pauses. "Take the probably out. I never will swim at her level. But it's a lesson to myself. I may be 58, but so what? My swim times are getting better. "
Torres's achievement has rubbed off on male swimmers, too. "With Dara Torres doing so well in the Olympic trials, we're hitting attendance records in the pool," says Rich Axtell, who owns the Minuteman Masters Swim Club based at the Hanscom Air Force Base pool.
Yet Torres's success seems to have particular resonance for the women. Many of them grew up before the Title lX ruling in 1972 that forced public schools to offer equal athletic programs for males and females, and were shut out of most sports when they were younger.
"I was born too early," says Pelletier. "I can still remember being 18 or 20 and trying to start golf lessons, but they wouldn't let me have them. I never started running till I was 73." Last year, she participated in a triathlon.
There is a definite sense of community among this cohort of older women swimmersLately they've been talking about Torres. Petey Smith, 84, of Providence holds more than 60 Masters-level world and national records and once swam at a meet with Torres. "I certainly admire and respect her," she says.
Smith, a former schoolteacher, swims weekdays at the Community College of Rhode Island in Lincoln, and despite osteoporosis has retained her strong, streamlined form and elegant stroke.
She acknowledges it's not always been easy to push herself competitively. "You don't know how many times I've said to myself, "Just do it," she says. "I said that long before
Yet she says she never feels better than when she's underwater, and she's not alone. Tova Cohen, 54, a Lexington technical writer, started swimming with the Minuteman Club just a little over a year ago: "I've never been fitter in my life and I've always been active," she says.
Like other female Masters swimmers, Cohen has been paying close attention to Dara Torres. Unlike others, though, she isn't swept up by Torres's achievements. "I'm rooting for her but does she inspire me? No. She has $100,000 to spend on her support team," says Cohen, stretching on the pool deck after an hour-long 6 a.m. swim. "It's the older women here who inspire me."
