1 Congratulations! How is motherhood?
Dara: Thanks! It’s great. I have to admit the first couple of weeks were really tough. I had no experience with kids, so you have to get used to the crying and what her needs are. After that, it’s been sort of a breeze. She sleeps a lot now, and I know what her cries are about now, and she’s been a very good baby. You read baby books and everything, but you never know what it’s like until they are born. It’s awesome.

2 What is Tessa Grace Torres-Hoffman doing right this minute?
Dara: She’s doing well. She’s lying on me, eating. She’s doing well. She’s growing. She’ll be 7 weeks (today, Tuesday), and she’s already in three-to-six-month clothes!

3 How’s this affected you? Are you getting enough sleep?
Dara: I’ve always been an eight-hour (per night) sleep person. That’s been a big change for me. (Laughs) But the big thing is just knowing what her needs are. When they’re born, they can’t tell you if they are hungry or tired, or wet. You just have to figure it out and take it one day at a time.

4 Your 2000 Olympic teammate B.J. Bedford said she saw you at Masters nationals, something like three weeks after you had the baby and said you had lost all the weight. Is that possible?
Dara: Actually, yes, that’s exactly how it happened. You know, I started swimming three months into being pregnant. It was something where David (Tessa’s father)… I was trying to get him to swim again, so I said, “Let’s join a Masters team.” He was very hesitant. Well, we started going, and it was just great for both of us. I went about three mornings a week, even though David went every morning. I created a monster. I loved swimming again. After about 6½-7 months, I had to stop traveling for my work, so I’d go at 8 or 9 in the morning – instead of 5! – and my masters coach would leave me workouts. I had certain limits. The doctor said not to get too out of breath, because if you’re out of breath, the baby can’t breathe either. So we monitored everything. I ended up doing about 3,000 meters three or four times a week. I really stuck with it. I went to swim one day and then lifted and went that night in the hospital and delivered the next day. My first question after I saw she was healthy and I was holding her on my lap was, “When can I swim again?” The doctor said I could lift again right away, but to wait four to six weeks to swim. Well, I had a swim meet coming up. A week and a half later, I saw a guy walk into the gym, and it was my doctor, and I said, “Can I swim yet?” He said, “You know what? Go ahead and swim if you feel like it. We really have no clue on how long you should wait. If you feel all right, and you’re doing well, then go ahead.” So I started swimming again, and it felt so good. Then, I went to Masters nationals and swam relays only, just three weeks after having my baby. I’m not ripped and tight. I mean, I’m lean, and my stomach is flat and hard, but not like when I was competing. Swimming was, and is, a big part of all this for me.

5 How do you describe motherhood?
Dara: Even when they put her on my lap, I was like, “Is this really mine?” Even in the ultra sound, looking at her image, it was just so surreal. (Pause) Wait, we have one big bad diaper here. (Laughs)  She just went to the bathroom! Don’t worry, hang on a sec (laughs) I can still talk to you. I can multi-task.

6 Dara Torres holding diapers and swimming.  Wow, the world changes, and yet it doesn’t. Did you think you’d swim again, because when we talked a couple of years ago, you weren’t sounding like you would.
Dara: After Sydney, I always told myself that if I ever had a kid, I’d get back into swimming. Well, I had a kid, and I’m back swimming. (Laughs)  But let me tell you, I had morning sickness and was nauseous for 5½ to 6 months, so there were some bad days in the pool. Thankfully, it has a big gutter system.
 
7 So what’s your diet like now?
Dara: My diet (laughs), well, you have to eat 500 calories more when you breastfeed, and eat more when you are working out, so I’m loving my “diet.”

8 Is Tessa a swimmer, or do you think there is a chance she will be?
Dara: She kicks all the time right now. I asked the pediatrician when I could bring her in the pool, and the doctor said babies’ skin is very sensitive so you have to wait two to three months. But we’re outside all the time for walks, and I take her to the beach, and we stay under the umbrella.

9 It sounds like you’re loving this mom thing?
Dara: Well, for the first two weeks, you wouldn’t have thought that. I thought at times, “How will I deal with this?” Like I said, not being able to get answers is very frustrating, but you just love them and learn about them. No book can teach you this.

10 Just wait, in a few months she’ll be feeding herself, and you’ll be like, “I miss the old days when she was little.”
Dara: When that happens, I’ll have a little of my time back. A little quiet time!

11 Are you staying active in the sport?
Dara: Yes, one of USA Swimming’s sponsors, Toyota – I do a lot with them, and I really enjoy it. Rowdy (Gaines) and I are doing a lot of swim clinics. I did one in Fort Myers with Rowdy, and I brought my baby. So it’s neat to take her with me. I have a little thing for her to sleep in. It’s just great. There are still a couple of TV things I can’t do right now. I have to limit myself, whereas before I could just hop on a plane and go. She’s my first priority in everything.

12 Can you even imagine how much you love this little girl?
Dara: It’s hard to express in words. Those first few days and weeks, you’re scared, but you still love this little thing. Then you start understanding her needs, and she starts sleeping more, and it’s just amazing. Even now if I have to go run an errand and I come home, I’m already missing her even if I’m gone a few minutes.

13 What’s the deal with you and Summer Sanders, and even Brooke Shields and all, having babies on or around the same time?
Dara: Tessa was actually born on the same day as Katie Holmes’ and Brooke Shields’ babies. I don’t talk to Summer a whole lot, but I heard our due dates were the same!

14 How odd, but cool, is this? You, Summer, B.J. Bedford-Miller all being Moms now?
Dara: Now we can help each other out. I’ve talked to a couple of different swimmers who are pregnant. I can’t say their names because I don’t know if they’ve told anybody yet. It’s pretty neat. B.J. and I do keep in touch. She’s a great mother (to Arden, who just celebrated her first birthday). I asked B.J. when I was pregnant how long I could keep swimming, if I could still do flip turns. I got some good advice from her.

15 I guess we’re to the logical point: When does Tessa get a little brother or sister?
Dara: Let’s wait and see. I’m taking it one day at a time, one year at a time. I’m just enjoying her. If I have another, it’ll mean I have enough love for another baby, but right now this little girl has all my attention, and I think we’re both liking that right now!

16 Did you ever think swimming would be such a big part of your life at such an important time in your life?
Dara: You know, I didn’t. Even though I told myself I’d swim when pregnant, I didn’t know if I could. When David got into it, that kind of forced me. (Laughs)  Now, I have a sitter come three times a week for about four hours so I can go swim and work out, grocery shop and do a few things. I’m able to still swim, and it’s so good for me.

17 Staying in the water, who are you watching in 2008?
Dara: Obviously Katie Hoff and Michael Phelps. And the Australian women, because they’ve come around so much in the last four years. It’s fun to watch them do so well. It’s so neat to watch swimming now, because I see how fast the times are, and I think, “That’ll never be broken,” yet as always, it happens again and again, and it still blows me away. I tend to look at my own events, but I do see how Katie Hoff is doing.

18 Have you FINALLY taken a look back at your multi-Olympic career, and how amazing what you did is?
Dara: No, sorry! I still have not. But, I do love it when I have women my age or older say, “Gosh, you are an inspiration, you’ve helped me accomplish so much,” and that is pretty cool. But for me, as far as looking back, I’m the kind of person who moves on to the next thing in my life, so no, I haven’t really looked back.

19 The last time we talked, you had a pretty fast little hot rod, and you’ve raced, and won in those celebrity auto races. So be honest here: is Dara Torres behind the wheel of a mini-van?
Dara: No. I have baby friendly kind of car that is safe for her. I won’t mind being a soccer mom – any tomboy-ish sport would be great. But you know what? I’m thinking she’s going to be a ballerina or something I know nothing about. (Laughs) She’s one happy baby though. That’s all I care about. She’s alert, and she holds her head up already. Maybe she’ll be an athlete, or maybe she’ll be like her father, the studious type. I’ll just love her all I can, every single day.

20 What do you say to your young fans out there who want an update?
Dara: I don’t have young fans anymore. It’s funny, kids at swim camp don’t have any idea who I am. (Laughs) One girl recently, this fast little swimmer – her mom was around – and she said, “My Mom’s 32.” I was like, “I am SO MUCH OLDER than your Mom!” But that’s good for me, and I enjoy it. The kids who are teen-agers sometimes know me, but the ones who are 8 or 9 don’t unless their parents told them. But you know what? That doesn’t matter at all, because once they find out you’re an Olympian, they become very interested in you and your story. Rowdy does these with me, and they love having Olympians come and help them. It’s a great feeling that we’re still wanted, and that allows us to give back to a sport that has given us so much.