Photo: Andrea Cross

While everyone knows 43-year-old Dara Torres is a five-time Olympian, here are two other amazing facts about her: On August 1, 2007, just 15 months after giving birth to her first child at age 40, Torres won the gold in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. Nationals. Then three days later, she twice broke her own American record in the 50-meter freestyle that she had originally set 26 years before. I caught up with her in the midst of her latest project, BP's Younger for Longer Challenge, to find out more about it and to learn how she stays in such stellar shape.

That's Fit: What was your impetus for this project?

Dara Torres: I've always maintained that age is just a number, and we should never put an age limit on our dreams. This is a contest that perpetuates that message. It reaches out to both men and women encouraging them to share their ideas in an essay about what keeps them young and healthy. (The winner wins $10,000 worth of BP gasoline with invigorate, a new formula designed to help keep cars running longer, and a one-on-one with Dara. Click here to enter.)

TF: What's the single most essential aspect of your life that you feel keeps you youthful?

DT: Fitness. It's always been a part of my life. My daughter's only 3, but I already have her taking gymnastics, dance and swimming classes. It doesn't have to be a purposeful workout, you just need to get out there and move, even if it's just a brisk daily walk. Exercise not only makes you feel younger, it relieves stress, and you automatically look better. It's a win-win.

That's Fit gals are all talking about her -- Dara Torres -- the Olympic swimmer and middle-aged mom. Jacki recently shared an informative overview of Torres and Kristen provided specifics on her fitness routine. Consider us Dara-spired. Hint to Kellogg's marketing squad, 35-and-over women will pounce on boxes of Special K if Torres is on it.

Dara-spiration exudes through her beautiful smile, her ability to tackle motherhood and develop into an even more powerful Olympic-level swimmer with a fitness regimen that works for her age. Accepting and creatively making accommodations for our aging or injured bodies is key to lifelong fitness. Torres recognized her body needs more recovery time between workouts than when she was younger, so she works out differently. Not only that, Torres raised her hand to become one of a dozen athletes openly submitting to a new, comprehensive drug-testing program by the United States Anti-Doping Agency -- she's clean.

I'm 41-years-old, just like Torres. I have a four-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. I love competition, whether it's a golf tournament or "who can run around the house the fastest." I want to exit my 40s -- typically the decade of getting soft -- Dara-lean and taut. Witnessing Torres anchor the relay team to a silver medal at the 2008 Games delivered a jolt of spine-tingling Dara-spiration and pride. After that performance, I wouldn't be surprised if middle-aged moms everywhere ate right the next morning and headed outdoors for a bike, jog or a few laps in the pool. Anyone else Dara-spired? Check out these new pics of Torres in the gallery!

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Have you looked at the body of Olympic swimmer Dara Torres lately? I mean really looked at it? Lean, mean, and 12 pounds lighter than she was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, this 41-year-old medalist and mom of a two-year-old, is in better shape now than she was 20 years ago, at age 21. What exactly has she done to her body to achieve such physical greatness and beat her 1998 Olympic 100m speed by 2.47 seconds? She's worked her butt off, that's what. She's pumped up her weight training regimen by practicing a resistance stretching and flexibility and strength-building program that uses her own force to work out muscles -- while most strength-building exercises involve contracting muscles, her program contracts and stretches muscles during a repetition. It makes her lighter in the water, she says, and makes her stroke more efficient.

Some want to know not what Torres is doing to her body. They want to know what she's putting in her body. Nothing that isn't approved by the USADA, she says. In fact, she switched her asthma medication to a lower dose because it relieves symptoms without increasing lung capacity. She wants no unfair advantage and takes only an amino acid supplement for muscle recovery and strength. Doubt her? Don't. She'll submit to any test available -- urine, hair, DNA -- to prove she's the real deal.

Dara Torres is certainly doing something right. Check her out in the gallery below and see what you think. Then hop over to this article and find out from Carl Foster, professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse and past president of the American College of Sports Medicine, how exactly Torres is making it as an aging athlete.

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Dara Torres is generating a lot of press as the oldest swimmer to compete in the Olympic games, but even at 41, her body and fitness level is better than most who end up in the pool with her. And though she works hard at her sport, she has to work out differently now than she did when she was younger.

With age, Dara found that she needed more recovery time between workouts. Where she used to swim 10 practices a week, she now swims less than half the distance. However, she does the same workouts as her teammates, with perfect form and enthusiasm.

Dara has considerable help in her training -- she has strength, sprint, and speed coaches, masseuses and chiropractors at her disposal. And while she does plenty of training in the pool, she says her "secret weapon" is resistance stretching. As far as strength training, her strength trainer, Andy O'Brien has changed her routine, moving away from heavy, static weightlifting and instead focusing on "balanced, dynamic exercises that stimulate her central nervous system." They use exercise balls for weightlifting, doing crunches, and cross-body pulls.

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