Is anyone else annoyed with the olympic medal count?

[sfa]

I got tired of the Phelps too. My opinions I will keep to myself because I don't want to offend anyone.

I was much more interested in hearing more about Dara's schedule, how she trains and is a mom. How does she balance the two pulling her time?

Apparently a nanny and lots of professionals to help her train, plus a training schedule that focuses less on time spent in the pool (figuring that after so many years, she's got her form down perfectly) and more on strength/muscles working together and good recovery: http://jamieatlas.wordpress.com/2008...n-dara-torres/

I think Dara rocks, and I've been pleased in general to see so many "old" female Olympians--the 38 year old marathon winner, the 33 year old German gymnast, and, of course, Dara Torres. But I don't think she's been slighted in the least in her press coverage OR her likelihood for raking in sponsorships and speaking engagements from her achievement. She hasn't gotten equal time as Phelps, but then, she hasn't achieved what he did. No one has. He did in two Olympics more than she's done in five Olympics. More than any Olympian has ever done in history. Dara's appeal is not her performance so much as her longevity in a sport that favors younger athletes, but I suspect she's the leading edge of something that will become more common--training is getting better, and ever since they started allowing professionals to compete in the Olympics, we've started to see people putting off retirement and continuing to compete where in the past they wouldn't have been able to keep training at that level because they had to go out an earn a living. So I understand the fuss about Phelps (and o.k. I'll admit to some bias since he's the hometown hero), but I don't think it's disproportionate to what he accomplished, and I don't think the fuss about him diminishes the lesser fuss around Torres at all.

Sarah

ETA a link to another, better, article about Dara Torres' training schedule: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/sp...ewanted=1&_r=1