Drew B wrote:
Really - what other olympic sport has 41 year old athletes getting a shitload of money thrown at them? Certainly not the high profile summer events like Track and Field, Swimming or Gymnastics. My issue is that it will probably come out that she's doping. Why? Because that's just par for the course with athletes lately - if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Sure Michael Phelps is the shit, but he's also 23 years old. Dara Torres is nearly twice that age. Something just don't seem right. My other and biggest issue is the media's portrayal of her. She's like some fucking Terminator robot being created in a lab. But to the real deal - just watched the Nastia Luikin thing. Man, that was complete and utter horseshit.
I'm still confused. Is it Dara's age or the amount spent on her Olympic ambitions (or both)? Because other sports must cost WAY more. I can't even imagine what it costs to bring the horses over to China for the equestrian team! Not to mention the year-round monumental expenses to maintain horses (food, stables, veterinary care, additional caretaking staff, etc.). I guarantee that each athlete in this sport spent more than $100,000 this last year in order to compete at these games. And some of the equestrian folks are pretty darned old, too...
I don't find it surprising that it takes more work (and consequently more expense) to whip a 41-year-old body into shape as opposed to a 22-year-old body. I'm just not sure why it takes away from the accomplishment one iota when the results are so impressive. All of that, of course, is assuming that she is not doping. If she is, then clearly that is a separate issue...
The issue again is around the media's portrayal of her. They are portraying as some supermom who somehow got into shape to race at age 41 by waking at 4:30am to swim for 20 minutes before she has to feed the kids.
She trains 6 days a week - ALL day - while her kid is being raised by a nanny. She has 6 full time coaches. Her training regimen costs $100K per year.
She is NOT a full time mom who happens to be an Olympic athlete, she is a full time Olympic athlete who also happens to be a mom.
But she's done...by this time next week, no one will be talking about her again - until the doping inevitably comes out.
