Torres Earns Athlete of the Week Honor With Butterfly Surprise

Dara Torres, shown competing at the Beijing Olympics, earned this week's USA TODAY Olympic Athlete of the Week award after setting an American record in the 50-meter butterfly.

Torres, 42, won three silver medals in her comeback at the Beijing Olympics and said she entered the butterfly at the College Station event on a lark after not competing in the stroke in a number of years.

May 26, 2009

Torres, 42, won three silver medals in her comeback at the Beijing Olympics and said she entered the butterfly at the College Station event on a lark after not competing in the stroke in a number of years.

Her time of 25.72 seconds broke Jenny Thompson's 2003 record of 26.00 and was just .39 seconds back of the world record set last month by Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands.

Torres' surprising swim allowed her to nip long jumper Brittney Reese, who re-took the season's world lead with a jump of 7.06 meters at an IAAF Grand Prix event in Brazil. The effort earned her third place on the all-time American list behind Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Marion Jones. Reese is a 2008 University of Mississippi graduate who will turn 23 this fall. She won the event at the 2008 Olympic trials and placed fifth in Beijing.

Another track and field athlete who posted a world-best mark was 2008 discus gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton. Her mark of 217 feet, 2 inches at the USA Track and Field Pacific Association Championships was also a personal record. Brown Trafton's mark is the all-time fifth-longest throw by an American.

In other news involving 2008 Beijing participants, beach volleyball players Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers, last year's Olympic gold medalists, won the AVP event in Huntington Beach over the weekend. It was their fourth win of the season and they beat 2008 Olympians Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal. The 2008 Olympic pair of Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs won the women's event.

Source:  USA Today