One of Dara Torres’ most memorable Olympic memories was almost getting detained by the secret service when trying to take a photo with President Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Reagan had gone to the Olympic village in Los Angeles to speak to the athletes. Only team captains were allowed to be on stage with him, but Torres, 17-years old at the time, was not one of the lucky ones. However, she still wanted something to remember the moment.
“When he was done speaking, I was calling his name like, ‘hey Mr. President.’ He didn’t come over so I hopped on the platform,” Torres said.
At that moment, secret service watched her closely and started reaching out for their weapons just in case there was something dangerous going on.
“I was like, what are they doing? I didn’t even know what secret service was,” she said. “I didn’t know they had guns on them. He came over and I got a polaroid picture with him. And I caused chaos because then everyone else wanted to get up and get a picture with him. That was a fun moment outside of the competition that I will always remember.”
That was her very first Olympics, and most certainly not her last. Torres was the first swimmer to represent the United States in five Olympic Games: Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008.
Beijing was where she reached her 12th Olympic medal — matching the mark set by Jenny Thompson, which was then also matched by Natalie Coughlin at the 2012 Games for the most by a female swimmer. But now Katie Ledecky is on the verge of tying it and maybe even surpassing that record in Paris.
Although Torres might not be at the top of the list by the end of the summer, she couldn’t be more excited.
“I don’t know [Ledecky] well but she is literally one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Torres said. “She is kind of quiet but just so kind. What she is about speaks volumes.”
Torres recounted watching Katie Grimes qualify for the Tokyo Games at just 15 years old, and she loved what she saw Ledecky do.
“[Grimes] was so nervous and so ecstatic, and Katie just went over there and hugged her and congratulated her.” Torres said. “It just shows what kind of person she is to worry about other people and to help other people.”
Ledecky currently has 10 Olympic medals, earning her very first one at 15 years old during the 2012 Olympics in London in the 800-meter event. She needs two more to tie the record, and she will have four events to do so as Ledecky is competing in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyle events, as well as the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
“Records are meant to be broken and she definitely can do that,” Torres said. “She has four events to do it and she had great Olympic trials. I don’t think she was 100% rested there so I’m very interested to see what she can do and hopefully she can break that record.”
Torres, now 57 years old, has retired as an athlete but is hardly away from the athletic lifestyle. A healthy diet, which she said revolves around sufficient protein intake, is still very much important to her. She is definitely not one to skip out on a taco night, but her little twist is she cooks corn tortillas in macadamia nut oil.
She is also not done being physically active. Torres constantly shares videos of little workouts she does when doing things like watching movies at home, as well as more intense activities like hanging upside down as part of TRX training.
Torres loves inspiring others and has been a keynote speaker for a while, and now she is taking a more hands-on approach by hosting Boost Camp, a fitness program powered by nutritional drink Boost. As part of that partnership, Torres films instructional workout videos to help people chase goals regardless of fitness level or age.
And staying on that theme, Torres also just added another job to her already incredible resume. She was recently announced as the head coach of men’s and women’s swimming & diving at Boston College.
“Coaching is something that I have never done but I feel that it’s inside of me,” she said. “I want to be able to share my experiences with these kids and be able to teach them the stuff that I learned to be the best that I could be.”
