50 greatest Summer Olympians in history
By John Buhler
15. Dara Torres, Swimming.
Dara Torres is one of three American female swimmers to score 12 Olympic medals over the course of her career, joining Jenny Thompson (No. 18 on our list) and Natalie Coughlin (No. 19), the latter of whom who could surpass both with one more medal in Rio this summer.
Torres won four gold medals, four silver medals, and four bronzes medals over five Summer Olympics, in the process authoring a pair of career comebacks. She first won gold as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay in 1984, when she was just 17 years old.
Torres would earn two medals in the 1988 Seoul Games (a silver in the 4×100 m individual medley relay and a bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay), as well as another gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay team four years later in Barcelona.
After skipping out on the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Torres came back to shine in the 2000 Sydney Games, winning two golds in relay events (the 4x100m individual medley and 4x100m freestyle) and three individual bronze medals (in the 50m freestyle, the 100 m freestyle, and the 100 m butterfly).
Torres retired for a second time, but came back once again — a full seven years out of competitive swimming — to win three silvers as a 41-year-old in the 2008 Beijing Games.
In total, Torres won Olympic medals in five different Summer Games, spanning 24 years in total. Talk about longevity.
Next: 14. Ian Thorpe.