Unbelievable, amazing and inspiring. Those are three words I can think of that describe Olympic swimmer, Dara Torres, who at the age of 41 qualified for her 5th Olympics by winning the 100m freestyle at this week’s Olympic Trials in Omaha.

The fact that Dara Torres qualified after taking 7 years off is amazing and a true tribute to hard work and dedication. The fact that Dara Torres has been able to train and stay focused on her goal while being a Mom to her two year old daughter is just inspiring. I know she isn’t the first Mom who was an Olympic athlete at the same time, but there sure aren’t many of them!

Womens Health Magazine did a really nice interview with Dara that goes into her motivation, training and thoughts on her comeback.

Photo - AP

This summer is our first experience with summer swim team. We are about half way through the season and both my daughter and myself are really starting to get into it.

In just 6 weeks I have seen my daughter grow as a swimmer - who will now go off the blocks at the beginning of a race, knows what a DQ is and that it is not the end of the world, and chop 7 seconds off her freestyle time - and she has grown as a child too. Its been very cool to see her make new friends, cheer for team mates and start understanding that you don’t always come in first and that’s okay.

As a parent, I have learned how yet another sport works. Coming from a gymnastics background, swim meets are a whole different world. Gymnastics has pretty defined boundaries of where the parents are during competition and the coaches do all the line ups and such. Swimming requires a huge number of parent volunteers and it can get a bit crazy - but in a good way.

Another thing I love about summer swim team is the access to competition that it gives kids of all athletic abilities, body types and experience levels! If you can swim one length of the pool you can be a part of the fun, the competition, and the team.

It is my hope that my daughter continues to have a rewarding experience with summer swim and will chose to continue with year round swim. She enjoys swimming and seems to have some natural ability too.

We had so much fun at the USA Gymnastics Olympic Trials that the anticipation for the Olympic Games is building rapidly. Here is a photo I took at the Trials as they set off four big cannons filled with confetti and blanketed the arena.

Some Olympic team updates:

• While the US women’s gymnastics team has named two members to its squad (and will announce the rest after July 20), the Aussies are set! The AustralianOlympic Gymnastics team will consist of Dasha Joura, Shona Morgan, Lauren Mitchell, Ashleigh Brennan, Georgia Bonora and Olivia Vivian, and alternate Emma Dennis.
• The first nine members of the US Women’s Olympic Basketball squad was named last month with Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie leading the list.  Others include Sue Bird, Cappie Pondexter, Diana Taurasi, Katie Smith, Tina Thompson, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles. The remaining three members have not yet been named.
• The US Swimming Olympic Trials are happening as I write this and these athletes are fast! Records are falling! The world record in the women’s 100m backstroke fell twice in prelims Monday when Hayley McGregory broke the record with a time of 59.15 followed by Natalie Coughlin breaking McGregory’s record with a time of 59.03 in the next heat.
• Nine members of the 2004 gold medal winning women’s soccer team have been named to the 2008 Olympic Soccer team - that is half of the team! Just the experience alone will give the team such an advantage.