OMAHA, Neb — At her age, Dara Torres should be lounging by the pool curled up with a good book. Instead, she is chasing history.
A 45-year-old single mother who already has competed in five Olympic Games, Torres will go for her sixth Games when she swims in tonight’s women’s 50-meter freestyle final, for which she qualified with a third-place finish in last night’s semifinal in the U.S. swimming trials at the CenturyLink Center.
In the evening semifinal, needing to finish in the top eight to qualify for the final, she bettered her morning prelim time of 25.00 seconds with a 24.80. The top two finishers in the final go to the Olympics.
“I’m in the finals and I’m ecstatic,’’ Torres said after the semifinal. “In ’08 [the Beijing Olympics] it was about winning medals. This time around it’s about making the team. My mindset and mentality has changed over the years. I appreciate it so much more now.’’
Four years ago, Torres, who lives and trains in Florida, won three silver medals — in the 50-meter freestyle, the 400-meter medley relay and the 400-meter freestyle relay. The 50-meter free is the only event she’s trying to qualify for in this Olympics.
“It’s much tougher this time around,’’ she said. “People were saying I was middle-aged at 41 [in 2008], but I’m really, really middle-aged now. Everything just takes longer to recover.’’
Still, Torres is fond of saying, “The water doesn’t know how old you are.” Last night, she hardly looked her age competing against 14 swimmers in their 20s.
Torres’ is tied with retired swimmer Jenny Thompson with 12 medals as the most decorated U.S. female Olympian.
“Most people assume it’s the medals that are most important to me, but it’s actually not the medals, it’s the longevity,’’ Torres said.
“She’s an inspiration to me,’’ 25-year-old Jessica Hardy, who finished first in the semifinal, said. “She’s a role model seeing her in such good shape at that age . . . she’s in better shape physically than all of us out there.’’
Since the 2008 Olympics, Torres has undergone shoulder surgery for osteoarthritis and had left knee surgery to reconstruct another joint and grow new cartilage.
Through it all, there she was last night, still chasing history.
Torres said she was “happy’’ with her times yesterday, but added, “Right now I’m not looking for times; I’m looking for place. It’s all about place here.’’
And the only place Torres wants to be is headed to London.
* Michael Phelps ensured another run at eight gold medals, winning the men’s 100-meter butterfly final, though he was hardly happy with his performance at 51.14, well off his best.
“It was a pretty [lousy] first 50 [meters] and a terrible finish,’’ said Phelps, who will race in five individual events and three relays. “But it’s done. It’s behind us.’’
Of more significant consequence in the race was the performance of Tyler McGill, who qualified for his first Olympics with his second-place finish.
“I had to make a decision this morning that I was going to London and commit to that,’’ McGill, who represents the New York Athletic Club, said. “It was not a ‘want,’ it was not a ‘hope.’ I had that mindset all day, that nothing was going to get in the way of my goal and the goal was to go to London.’’
Ryan Lochte, who swam the event almost as an exercise to see how he would fare, finished third.
* Missy Franklin, the 17-year-old multi-event sensation, won the women’s 200-meter backstroke final, with Elizabeth Beisel finishing second.
Both were already qualified for London before the race. Franklin, the women’s version of Phelps, will compete in seven events in London.
* Kathleen Ledecky won the women’s 800-meter freestyle to make the Olympic team at age 15.
* Cullen Jones of Irvington, N.J., who swam in the 400-meter freestyle relay in the ’08 Games, won the men’s 50-meter freestyle final and will swim that and the 100-meter free in London.
“This is my dream — to swim individually and I’m in the 100 and 50 free, my two favorite events,’’ he said. “I don’t want to let people down.’’