The day Dara won silver was like every other race day except this time she was nervous in a different way. At trials Daras nervousness was more like intense stress. She wanted to succeed not only for herself, but for everyone that supported her. 

This time Dara was nervous, but it was more of an excited nervousness. As we stretched and mashed her, the leg that was free would just start to shake! It was hilarious, and even though it was going on it didnt phase her. She would actually carry on a conversation, smiling the whole time while her leg involuntarily would start to shake! Her mother commented on it and we all had a great laugh at Daras expense. Once we were done with Dara she was off in a flash and ready to take charge.

Below: Here are a sequence of pics right before she swam her part of the relay. If you look closely you can see the intense feeling in Daras face. She almost looks to worried, yet like a true champion she snaps out of it when its time to perform.  

Below: the American womans relay team is introduced!

 Below: you can see the pressure of performing well start to show on Daras face.

Below: How does Dara snap out of it? Well, for one thing she's a professional and for a another, it helps when the President is in the audience cheering the U.S. team on!

 Below: action shots of Dara getting ready to take the bull by the horns and claim her spot in History once more!

Below: and here is the end result of 2 years of extremely hard work!

Below: we have pics of family and friends 

This is Dave, Daras partner in life. He is one of the main reasons Dara is able to follow through with her dream of competeing again. Without his love and support for her this journey would have been extremely difficult and stressful! Thanks Dave, your the best! 

Below: Daras beautiful Mother Mary Lou. As you can see Dara gets her great genetics from her!

Below: Most of the Torres clan

left to right: Daras brother in law John, her mother Mary Lou, her sister Lara, her niece Alegra, her nephew Nicholas, her step-father Ed, and her best friend Tommy

Below: The next generation of athletes in the Torres family? 

Below: and here is the very kind but strict gentleman that kicked us out as soon as the event was over and another started.

Below: pics of Tiananmen square and the Forbidden city 

 Below : entrance to the Forbidden City

Inside the Forbidden city you have places to buy souvenirs, you can dress up and take photos, or you can buy artwork from students. 

 Towars all along the courtyard:

 Below: more soldiers

 Below: a view from Tiananmen square

 Below: pics of the inside of the cube. Here is the diving platform. It looks like a toy set!

 Below: Dara mapping out her strategy with her coaches and warming up. Her body is feeling a little tight, so we have upped the training. We mash and stretch her in the morning, and then in the afternoon we mash her again. Its taken a couple of days but she is feeling better. In her own words, " I feel strong in the water, just not snappy".  We shall see on game day, and form prior experience we know she will peak nicely!

 Below: Daras chiseled physique

 Below: Annes toes say "Go DT" and Dara is sporting the Flag!

While training Dara was struggling to be upbeat while our friend and Daras coach Michael Lohberg was sick in the hospital. Coach Lohberg was diagnosed recently with aplastic anemia, a disorder that causes bone marrow to shut down. It's a potentially fatal disorder and as of right now Michael is stable. Our prayers are with him and his family.

 Every other day Anne and I would walk to Daras hotel to work on her. It would take about 25 minutes. We didn’t mind considering the weather was sunny and warm everyday!

Although Dara was undr intense stress, I could see that all the rest was doing wonders for her. What people fail to realize is that while in Florida Dara would bust her butt training, then head home to run errands and be a mom. I think she was always running on low energy reserves, so getting lots of sleep and resting was doing wonders for her body. I could see her muscles were getting fuller and the constant practicing of her starts and turns were adding some nice tone to her body. 

Below pic: quad stretch 

 Below pic: Calf stretch while Annes body provides resistance

Below: rotational stretch for the core, lats, and quadratus 

 Below: medial Hamstring stretch

  Check out some of the rotations that we are applying on Daras upper and lower body!

 the top photo is of Anne and I Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching Dara in internal rotations and underneath we are applying external rotation to take stress out of her shoulders and lats. 

Training camp was great in Stanford, we taught a successful intensive training workshop on Ki-Hara Resistance stretching, and we even saw a couple of our close friends. While in Stanford there was plenty of behind the scenes work that left us so exhausted that we were actually thrilled with the idea of an 18-hour flight to Singapore. We knew it meant sore neck and backs, but it also promised sleep and a nice active recovery massage with the compex sport!

On Cathay Pacific airlines the seats were very comfortable, we had extensive movie and TV programs.  The flight attendants worked very hard to keep everyone happy, and I don’t think they took a break the entire flight over.

We also received a welcome to Singapore pamphlet that said “ Death to drug traffickers”- that’s a ‘just say no’ program that works. 

Ok, So we are at the Beijing games and the womans U.S. team just scored silver medals! 

So much has happened in the last 2 years that I will never be able to catch up to this moment. Im going to start at the 2008  trials and work my way up to the 2008 games in Beijing. 

Here are a couple of pics of Anne and I mashing Dara out while hooked up to the compex sport machine. Trials were very stressful for the girls. I have never seen Dara  and Anne so nervous. Dara mentioned that she felt like she had to succeed because so many people were supporting her. Anne was nervous because, well Dara and her are twins! I of course was my normal un-emotional self until she won her 100 and then I crashed. I remember her touching the wall, I let out a yell and I could feel myself start to fall apart. It wasn't that I was shocked, hell I knew Dara was going to win every event, it was the stress of having certain individuals doubt Dara. They not only doubted Dara but they doubted us. Dara making the team was the best way to send a clear signal that she is no fluke, and as a team along with her strength coach (Andy O'Brien), her Swimming coaches, her therapists, and her support from fans, friends, and family we are unstoppable!

Below are pics of us preparing Dara for her Ki-Hara Resistance Stretching session by mashing her whole body for 45 minutes.