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Aug 21
2008
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Dara Torres and the day she swam her 50Posted by: Steve Sierra on Aug 21, 2008 |
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Well, we have waited to years for this day and boy did it not disappoint us! It was one of the most exciting moments in my life. The day naturally unfolded for us with a mixture of happiness, and intense thoughts of the unknown future.
Dara was in a good mood during her warm-up but during her mashing session you could see her mood change to competition mode. I could feel and see her thoughts and emotions play out in her face as our mashing session went on. All we could do was support her to the best of our abilities and let her swim her race.
Dara warming up before her 50, and talking to her coach Mark Schubert whom by the way coached Dara during her first Olympics!
Below: Dara on her way to get mashed!
Below: Daras niece and nephew have come to support her with their tatoos
So we just finished mashing and stretching Dara and she is off to put her suit on. during that time she also mentally prepares herself as Anne starts to fall apart from nervousness.
Below: Anne is laughing because she knows Im trying to capture her nervous breakdown
Below: here are the pics of Dara getting ready to swim her 50!
Below: The emotions in her face are unbelievable. Between Dara and Anne it they both captured the gold in intensity.
Below: Im always amazed at how Dara can switch gears and mentally redirect her energy.. Here she is waving to the crowd after her introduction.
Below: The gears switch again into game time mode
Above: So Dara is in the process of swimming "her" race and she is kicking some major ass. Im yelling as hard as I can and so is Anne. The crowd is going wild and everyone starts to hold their breath at the last meter! As you all know now Dara scores the Silver and misses the gold by 1/100th of a second! She beats her best time by 2/10ths of a second which in the 50 is a huge amount, and scores an American record in the process.
Below: During and after the race Anne remains true to form and breaks down and cries tears of joy and Love for our little princess.
Below: Here is Dara accepting her silver medal
Below: Just like Anne, Dara is crying tears of joy. I asked her later that day if she was crying because she missed the gold or because she was happy and she assured me it was tears of joy.
Below: Dara has her individual medal and now she has thirty minutes to prepare for the 400 medley relay!
Way to go girl! We love you!
