(This story about four-time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres was originally published in the Aug. 28, 1996 edition of the Idaho Mountain Express).
By JEFF CORDES
Dog desk
There was no television coverage. Ireland's Michelle Smith, the three-time gold medalist, was an ocean away.
Four-time U.S. gold medalist Amy Van Dyken was busy with endorsements. Presumably, 14-year-old Amanda Beard was off being the bridesmaid at Dennis Rodman's wedding.
It was good old-fashioned, in-your-face competition.
Taking their marks at Will Miller's backyard pool in The Heatherlands Saturday morning were three-time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, 29, of New York City and her opponent Gator, 6, of Sweetbriar Road and fields thereabouts.
Let's put it this way. Gator wasn't wearing a Speedo. He's a dog. A six-year-old Australian Shepherd. More precisely, Will Miller's undefeated Australian Shepherd. A lap dog in an era of Tap Dogs.
Doing the dog paddle against human competition for the past two years in Miller's 36-foot-long outdoor pool, Gator had never been beaten. The dog paddle is not an easy stroke by any means, Miller said. It comes naturally to Gator. But when humans do the dog paddle against Gator, it's a race.
"We were looking for the best competition we could," said Miller.
They tossed the idea back and forth while lounging around down at Ken Smith's Warm Springs Tennis Club and decided to put Gator's unbeaten boast on the line against one of the best swimmers in University of Florida "Gator" history.
That was Torres, whose family lives in Sun Valley.
A member of U.S. Olympic swimming teams in 1984 at Los Angeles, in 1988 at Seoul and in 1992 at Barcelona, rangy 6-0 freestyler Torres was a two-time gold medalist in the relays. She's still in great shape.
Wagging his tail in delight, Gator knew it was a tremendously difficult challenge.
One length of the pool. No medals at stake. Just pride.
How did Gator prepare for the challenge?
Miller said, "We spent some time on the Internet last night looking at swim sites. Reading Dara's biography at the University of Florida got him shook up a bit, but we watched Disney's That Darned Cat and that got him focused again.
"Plus, he's got a message on the wall of his doghouse, you know, like they put in locker rooms to motivate the players. It says, 'Dara Torres is going to kick your butt.' He focused on that."
It was a great race, nip-and-tuck the whole way.
Torres nipped Gator by a length.
Gator climbed out of the pool and shook dry.
The agony of defeat.
Unfazed, Gator ran after a tennis ball.
"We lost to a true champion. Dara was a great sport about the whole thing," said Miller. "I think Gator is taking it well. He'll have a hamburger patty tonight."
Miller said, tongue-in-cheek, "We're going to Sydney in 2000 and this is a good training gauge. He needs to work harder. We'll do a little high altitude training at Redfish Lake. But, really, I think the important thing is he did his best, and you can't ask for anything more."
Future challenges?
"We'll take on all comers," Miller said.
No hard feelings between undefeated Australian Shepherd Gator (left) and Dara Torres after their friendly dog paddle competition 12 years ago in a Heatherlands pool. Photo by Jeff Cordes
