By Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Search Google for Dara Torres and two pictures will pop up. One portrays the Olympics-bound swimmer in a beguiling pose, her breasts strategically and barely covered with flimsy cloth. Think J-Lo’s gaping green dress.
In the other photo, Torres cradles her giggling toddler in a pool. In this shot, the image is not sex. It is female maternal strength; the baby is adorable. Torres biceps are tanned and ripped.
Applause for both images, with a few caveats.
I will not go so far as to accuse Torres of doping, but her story is almost unbelievable.
At 41 years old, she whipped 100 meters down a pool, beating the favored 25 year old.
The performance landed Torres a spot in her fifth Olympics — this after being in retirement for six years and, as has been repeatedly mentioned, given birth.
I can’t speak to giving birth, but as a still-athletic but no longer competing athlete, I can say Torres is not normal.
Torres has volunteered for extra rounds of testing to prove she is not doping. Only a dope would ask for such scrutiny — even knowing that science lags in detecting newer, supposedly untraceable drugs — if she were in fact skirting regulations.
She claims the only things she adds to her body are protein, amino acids and vitamins.
I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.
Having said that, I believe Torres represents something society needs more of: images of accomplished, physically fit and beautiful women who are obviously “older.”
I don’t mean beautiful in a perky, bobble-head, teenage kind of way, and most certainly not in a fake-breasts, Playboy kind of way.
Where are the images of women who are alluring and comfortable with being considered sexy, physically fit by exercise, not starvation, not airbrushed in glossy photos, and also obviously in their 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond? I want to hear more praise for serious women with both cranial and physical strength, and age lines.
And, yes, I say this as a woman definitely within Torres’ age range.
But let’s also keep in mind that Torres herself represents an unattainable ideal. She maintains her shape and speed by undergoing a workout and stretching regime that most women have neither the time nor the extra $100,000 annually to spend.
If Torres is not normal for women her age, then what is? Sadly, in the United States it is larger-sized, slothful people.
Nearly 160 million of us — more than half of the population — are either medically overweight or obese.
This goes for men and women, but I’ll only take on my own gender here.
I’d argue that far too many women have coddled themselves into believing that weight gain must naturally occur with age. It’s as if half of American women are personally friends with Jenny Craig, fearful of hurting her feelings by not needing her expensive services anymore.
At the same time, rates of anorexia and bulimia (which Torres also once suffered) are exploding. Note also study after study showing how critical women are of their bodies, which is tied to the massive dieting, binging and craving — and to the largely unattainable ideals of the feminine physique that are endlessly propagated in our image-obsessed culture.
Something is seriously wrong here. As a nation we are living at the extremes — either trying to “buy” youth through a surgically enhanced version of beauty or dumping far more food into our frames than is healthy.
Where is the balance?
Let’s be honest: The body does wear. Let’s just say my skin is less taut than it used to be. And I’ve discovered that glucosamine does wonders for my knees, which get hammered on the tennis court. There was a day when I could run a five-minute mile.
Twenty-plus years later, I would not expect my body to perform that way.
But I also know that laying off bread, wine and cheese and walking more will help maintain my weight. I cannot blame “aging” alone for an expanded waistline.
I wish Torres continued success, both in winning medals at the Olympics and in dodging critics who accuse her of doping.
The rest of us can take a snippet of her disciplined regimen and be inspired toward better health — and beauty — no matter what our age.
To reach Mary Sanchez, call 816-234-4752 or send email to .
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The Women's Team
Maybe her doing well and making the team is a reflection on a less than stellar group of women in the field. Sometimes you win because your competition isn't that great.
Don't care, haven't bothered
Don't care, haven't bothered to watch the last 3 Olympics. Could not care less about doping, I think it's endemic to most sports now, but I will say that any parent raising a child to 'hero worship' athletes, or at least not dissuading them from doing do, is seriously out of touch, due to the doping and also due to the general lack of character shown by a lot of marquee athletes throughout sports. Too much money, too much temptation, too much pressure.
And when were athletes TRULY heroes? As opposed to those around you in your own lives, like your father, mother, brother, sister, local fireman, policeman, etc? And of course not to overlook the man/woman next door serving in the military, sometimes for life, who makes the living of your life possible?
A man throwing a football is not a hero. Nor one hitting a homerun, or kicking a ball in a net, nor shooting one through a hoop - they're athletes, amateur or otherwise. Real heros are all around you, they just don't play professional sports as their SOLE claim to 'heroism'.