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PersonJewish Eligibility — Verified by JWR

Dara Torres

Jewish-American swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist who became the oldest swimmer of either gender to win an Olympic medal.

United States

Dara Torres at the Missouri Grand Prix in 2008

vironevaeh / Wikimedia CommonsSourceCC BY-SA 2.0

Biography

Dara Grace Torres was born on 15 April 1967 in Beverly Hills, California. She competed in five Olympic Games between 1984 and 2008 and won twelve Olympic medals. Jewish-American swimmer and twelve-time Olympic medalist who became the oldest swimmer of either gender to win an Olympic medal. In Jewish World Records, Dara Torres is connected to the record “Oldest Olympic Swimming Medallist,” based on the stored achievement of 41 years old. At age 41, Dara Torres anchored the United States to silver in the women's 4×100 m freestyle relay at Beijing 2008, becoming the oldest Olympic swimming medallist of either gender. Guinness records Torres as the oldest Olympic swimming medallist; World Aquatics confirms the medal results; the documentary directly covers the age-41 comeback and record.

Video

USA Swimming interview with five-time Olympian Dara Torres; supporting holder-profile context.

Background video about this holder. It is not evidence for any JWR record value.

Records held by Dara Torres

Dara Torres in 2008
JWR VerifiedFounding Record
Sports · Olympic GamesOldest

Oldest Olympic Swimming Medallist

Record holder

Dara Torres

Record value

41 years, 4 months, 2 days

Dara Torres was 41 years, 4 months and 2 days old when she swam her final Olympic race, the women's 4 × 100 metres medley relay final at the Beijing National Aquatics Center on 17 August 2008. Born on 15 April 1967, Torres completed the United States team's freestyle anchor leg in 52.27 seconds. The American quartet of Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, Christine Magnuson and Torres finished in 3:53.30, earning the silver medal behind Australia. The final began at 10:47 Beijing local time, after the women's 50 metres freestyle final earlier that morning, in which Torres had also won silver by a margin of just 0.01 second.

Country represented
United States
Achievement location
Beijing, China, United States
Achievement date
17 August 2008
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