Truth or Dara

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OMAHA -- So the moment of truth, or at least one of them, came this morning for 41-year-old Dara Torres when she hit the water in the 11th heat of the 100-meter freestyle preliminaries.

This was the first U.S. Olympic swimming trials for Torres since she greatly unnerved the competition, most notably Jenny Thompson, in 2000 at Indianapolis. This time, however,

there are no age-group peers, just kids. And the kids are all right with Torres, who is trying to make her fifth Olympic team.

‘It’s always fun to think, ‘Oh my god, I’m racing someone more than twice my age,’ ‘ said 17-year-old Samantha Woodward. ‘She’s a fantastic competitor and always has been. I’m really glad she’s here to push us and hopefully lead the U.S. to some medals.’

Said 25-year-old Natalie Coughlin: ‘She looked great....If everything goes well, she’ll be a great relay teammate.’

Torres had the third-fastest qualifying time (54.57) for tonight’s semifinals, trailing only Coughlin (53.64) and Lacey Nymeyer (54.06). She raced in the same heat as Katie Hoff.

‘It was just good to get that first race out of the way,’ said Torres, who said she thought she was going to throw up beforehand because of nerves.

‘I knew I was going to be ahead of [Hoff] because she brings it back faster. When I got to the 75 (meter) mark, I shut down a little bit because I thought I might be going a little too fast.’

There was a nice moment between Torres and one of the veteran race starters just before the 100.

‘I just looked at her and I kind of smiled, ‘Here we are again, 24 years later,’ ‘ Torres said.

There were two 13-year-olds in an earlier heat, and Torres was asked if she had been asked for any autographs from the other swimmers.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘You’ve got Katie in there and a couple of other fast swimmers. I should be asking for their autographs.’

-- Lisa Dillman