Torres cutting back to 1 individual event

Swimmer, 41, drops out of 100-meter freestyle; U.S. completes its beach volleyball lineup

From wire reports

July 8, 2008

Dara Torres has dropped the 100-meter freestyle from her Beijing Olympics schedule, choosing to make the 50 free her only individual event in her record fifth Games.

The 41-year-old sprinter's decision was announced yesterday by USA Swimming. Torres will be replaced in the 100 free by Lacey Nymeyer, who finished third at the trials.

Torres had expressed concern that competing in two individual events and possibly two relays during the eight-day competition would be too hard on her body. She won the 50 and 100 freestyles at the trials.

Her most recent Olympic appearance was at the 2000 Sydney Games.

She competed well at the trials, setting a 50 freestyle U.S. record of 24.25 seconds Sunday night. It was the second American record she set in two days.

"Anyone can say the goal is to make the team," she said. "Once you're on the team, you want to win a medal. I won't sit there and say I'm glad I'm going; I want to win a medal."

•Beach volleyball The American lineup for the Olympics is set. Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs finished second in the Moscow Grand Slam over the weekend to earn enough points to clinch the second American women's berth for the Beijing Games. Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal also clinched an Olympic berth despite losing in the first round in Moscow. Reigning gold medalists Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor qualified long ago, as did the top U.S. men's team of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser. Each country is limited to two teams of two people. Points are awarded based on the top eight international finishes in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. With their finish in Moscow, Branagh and Youngs attained an insurmountable lead over Jen Boss and April Ross. Gibb and Rosenthal eliminated the No. 3 American men's team, Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer. The final qualifying event for the 24-team men's and women's fields will be July 15-20 in Marseille, France.

•China With one month to go before the Olympics open Aug. 8, China's work is hardly complete. The government needs to meet its pledge to deliver clean air in one of the world's most polluted cities and must finish two subway lines and a railway line. The 31 venues in Beijing are ready, and most have been for months. The most difficult promise for the authoritarian government to keep might be allowing reporters - as many as 30,000 are expected - to work freely, as they have in other Olympics. China pledged to do so seven years ago in winning the bid. Television networks such as NBC - which has paid billions for Olympic broadcast rights - and the International Olympic Committee have been at odds for months with Chinese security officials over clarifying the rights of satellite trucks to move freely around the city. Access to places such as Tiananmen Square - who will be allowed in, when and under what conditions - is also a battleground with Chinese officials, who fear that such sites could be used as a TV backdrop by pro-Tibet protesters or the spiritual movement Falun Gong. That issue is likely to come to the forefront again when broadcasters, the IOC and Games organizers meet tomorrow in Beijing, following up on a contentious meeting in late May at which IOC and broadcast officials criticized Beijing organizers for bureaucratic delays that could compromise TV coverage.

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Torres cutting back to 1 individual event

Swimmer, 41, drops out of 100-meter freestyle; U.S. completes its beach volleyball lineup

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Torres cutting back to 1 individual event

Swimmer, 41, drops out of 100-meter freestyle; U.S. completes its beach volleyball lineup

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