You don't have to be a swimmer or even an American to be a fan of U.S. sprinter Dara Torres in the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Just being 40 years old — or older — is enough.

For those dreading the impending arrival of middle age, if not AARP cards, here is somebody you can't help but root for and admire. Imagine a 41-year-old mother back in the pool after a couple of layoffs and surgeries trying to do more than squeeze into a Speedo. She's beating not only world class teenagers and the records they set but laughing at Mother Time.

While Michael Phelps races against history in chasing Mark Spitz's record seven Olympic gold medals on the world stage, Torres takes on something much more daunting: age.

If you've ever huffed and puffed through laps at the local municipal pool, here is a stirring story to embrace and revel in if not draw inspiration from. Off to her fifth Olympics — and having sat out two more (1994 and '04) — Torres by virtue of her dedication and discipline hasn't just found the fountain of youth, she's doing flip turns in it.

Torres was first breaking records back when there were still records — the phonograph kind. And, now, in the digital age she is back for more, beating and reclaiming marks from kids who are younger than some of her nine Olympic medals. The Cold War was still raging the first time she dived into an Olympic pool.

The 23-year-old Phelps and Torres' other teammates diplomatically refer to her as an older sister. Wise, of course. But truth be told, she is old enough to be a mother for most. More than a third of her U.S. women's swimming teammates are less than half her age. The next oldest of the 21 women is 15 years her junior. Torres was already in her first "retirement" when some of them were beginning their careers.

Torres was already a captain of the 1992 U.S. team and the first Olympic athlete appearing in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition when some of her teammates were mastering holding their breath under water.

In a sport where middle age generally means being old enough to drink legally and 25 can be referred to as positively "dinosauric," Torres is beyond amazing. If Rowdy Gaines was touted as the "old man and the sea" when he attempted to make the 1996 Olympic team at age 35, what does that make Torres? Besides a candidate to be the most thoroughly drug tested athlete in Beijing, that is.

The thing is Torres isn't just going to Beijing as some lifetime achievement award victory lap, though she is entitled. No, she's going there to make a splash.

As such, Torres has brought Olympic swimming a vast and, heretofore largely untapped, constituency, the middle-aged. That would be Olympian accomplishment in itself if she wasn't after something for, well, the ages.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.