Torres finds a silver lining in relay

Elizabeth Beisel, the youngest swimmer on the US roster, reacts to her fourth-place finish in the 400 individual medley. (al bello/Getty Images)

BEIJING - Dara Torres made history just by being here. So winning the silver medal in the women's 4x100 freestyle relay was as good as gold for her.

"I'm really happy with silver," the 41-year-old mom said, after she'd anchored the Americans to a creditable second-place finish behind the Netherlands and ahead of defending champion Australia.

By doing so, she won the 10th Olympic medal of her career, two short of Jenny Thompson's record.

"We weren't expecting this," Torres said.

Torres, the first American to compete in five Games, hadn't raced in an Olympic relay since she won gold in Sydney eight years ago and hadn't anchored since 1988, when she was 21. But she upgraded her teammates from bronze to silver with the second-fastest leg of the race (52.44 seconds), quicker than Dutch anchor Marleen Veldhuis, and brought the Americans to within .57 seconds of winning in an American-record time of 3:34.33.

"Water doesn't really know what age you are," said Torres.

Torres, who took seven years off since her last appearance at the Games and has a 2-year-old daughter, figures to get at least one more medal (probably another silver) in the 400 medley relay on the meet's final day. Torres also has a chance in the 50 freestyle, where she won bronze in 2000.

Katie Hoff gave it her best go, but her best was bronze in the 400 individual medley, where she came in as world champion and global record-holder (4:31.12).

"I'm happy to get my first medal ever at the Olympics," said Hoff, who finished in 4:31.71, behind Australia's Stephanie Rice (a world-record 4:29.45) and Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry (4:29.89).

Finishing fourth in 4:34.24, exhausted but satisfied, was Elizabeth Beisel, the 15-year-old from Saunderstown, R.I., who is the youngest swimmer on the American team.

"This one hurt a lot," said Beisel, who competes for the Bluefish Swim Club in Attleboro, Mass. "But it's my first Games and I had fun. Everyone had a good race."

In the men's 400 freestyle, Park Tae-hwan of South Korea won gold, ending Australia's Olympic dominance of the event.

Park, the reigning world champion, touched in 3:41.86. Zhang Lin of China earned his country's first swimming medal of these Games, claiming silver in 3:42.78. Larsen Jensen of Bakersfield, Calif., took the bronze in 3:42.78.

Favored Aussie Grant Hackett, who was in the lead off the blocks, struggled home in sixth.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.