Dara Torres Falls Short of Sixth Olympics at 45 as Hardy Wins

By Erik Matuszewski - 2012-07-03T04:01:00Z

Dara Torress bid to qualify for her sixth Olympic team at age 45 ended with a fourth-place finish in the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. swimming trials.

Jessica Hardy earned her second individual win yesterday in Omaha, Nebraska, where she finished in 24.5 seconds to add the 50m to her triumph in the 100m freestyle. Hardy missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance later ruled to be caused by a tainted supplement.

Kara Lynn Joyce took the second Olympic berth in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.73, hitting the wall nine-hundredths of a second ahead of Torres, whose 12 Olympic medals are tied for the most by a U.S. female swimmer.

This is really over, Torres, who took three silver medals in Beijing, said in a televised interview. Im going to enjoy some time with my daughter, have a nice summer and cheer the U.S. team on.

Torress only event came on the final day of the U.S. Olympic trials, where Michael Phelps said hed drop the 200- meter freestyle from his schedule in London, leaving him with a shot at one fewer gold medal than the record eight he won in Beijing four years ago.

Phelps, whose 14 Olympic gold medals are the most in history, had won the 200m freestyle at the trials on June 27, yet said hell skip it to focus on other events.

The biggest thing we wanted to do is make sure that we could compete at a high level with a lot of events, Phelps said in a phone interview. After this week, thinking about everything that will be there in London with possibly adding three relays, we just want the best shot at doing the best that we can with the events that we have.

Phelps will race in four individual events in London -- the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and the 200- and 400-meter individual medley -- and probably compete in three relays.

Hardy, 25, won both the 50- and 100-meter freestyles in Omaha after failing to qualify for the Olympics in her best event, the 100-meter breaststroke.

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Dara Torres Falls Short of Sixth Olympics at 45 as Hardy Wins