Dara Torres overcame staggering odds to make the U.S. Olympic swim team in her 40s. Now, an even bigger challenge awaits.
Torres’ arthritic left knee is damaged worse than she thought, requiring a radical, reconstructive procedure that will leave her with a recovery of 12 to 18 months. But she said Thursday she’s not giving up on the London Games.
“I think this might make me more motivated to go for 2012, just to prove I can get over this,” said the 42-year- old Torres, who won three silver medals at the Beijing Olympics. “At least I can set this as a goal.”
The operation — tibial tubercle osteotomy — will be performed Oct. 20 in Boston. Torres’ shin will be broken and shifted to create more room for cartilage to grow around her kneecap.
She already had the first step in the procedure a couple of weeks ago, when cartilage was removed from a nonweight-bearing area around her anterior cruciate ligament so it can be transplanted to the area around her kneecap during the next operation.
“This is really going to be a new experience for me,” Torres said. “It’s a little unnerving. I was seriously freaked out when I read the literature.”
Torres, who’s had some two dozen surgeries and twice come back from retirement, became the first U.S. swimmer to compete in five Olympics when she made the team for Beijing — after giving birth to her first child, daughter Tessa.
She anchored two relay teams that won silver medals and just missed out on the first individual gold of her career, losing to Germany’s Britta Steffen by one-hundredth of a second in the 50-meter freestyle.
Torres underwent shoulder surgery after the Games and looked forward to competing fully healthy, only to suffer from increasing pain in her left knee. She made the team for the world championships but was clearly not at full strength. She was unable to do much lower-body training in the months leading up to Rome because all the cartilage around her knee had worn out, leaving her with bone rubbing against bone.
Relay team awaits decision
COPENHAGEN — Marion Jones’ relay teammates will learn by Dec. 18 whether they can keep their medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee had hoped the Court of Arbitration for Sport would rule this month. But the CAS postponed the decision.
Jones lost all five of her medals — including three gold — after admitting in 2007 that she was using performance-enhancing drugs at the time of the Games. The Americans won gold in the 4×400-meter relay and bronze in the 4×100 relay. Jones also won the 100 and 200 and took bronze in the long jump.
Rogge set for new term
LONDON — After an eight-year term in office, Jacques Rogge is about to embark on a second — and final — four-year mandate as president of the IOC.
The 67-year-old Belgian is up for re-election today in what is a formality: Rogge is the only candidate.
