41-Year-Old Swimmer Wins Olympic Silver Medal

While the world is abuzz with the news of swimmer Michael Phelps' jaw-dropping eight gold medals, there's another Olympic athlete setting a new world record - and even though she didn't win first place in the event, American relay swimmer Dara Torres is at the top of our list.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on August 18 2008

While the world is abuzz with the news of swimmer Michael Phelps’ jaw-dropping eight gold medals, there’s another Olympic athlete setting a new world record - and even though she didn’t win first place in the event, American relay swimmer Dara Torres is at the top of our list.

At the age of 41, Torres is the oldest female swimmer to ever compete in the Olympics. In her younger days, she’d won nine medals for her swimming skills, but had retired from competition years ago. But despite her age, Torres wasn’t ready to throw in the towel - she landed a spot on the American relay swimming team, with teammates half her age or even younger. While just making the squad was honor enough, Torres did one better: She finished the event in second place, making her the oldest swimmer to ever win a medal at the Olympics.

Thanks to her amazing performance, Torres has quickly found a place in the hearts of millions of her fellow forty-somethings.

“I think there are a lot of middle-aged women and men who I know and who have contacted me or e-mailed me or stopped me in the street and told me I was an inspiration to them,” Torres told the New York Times. “As I’ve said from the beginning of this, age is just a number.”

“When we’re in the water, I know the water doesn’t know what age we are.”

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