A story you just want to believe

BEIJING -- I believe Dara Torres.

Maybe I'm a dope. Maybe she really is doping.

But I don't think so. I think Torres is a 41-year-old who can make all of us forty-somethings proud -- a swimmer for the ages and the aged.

Torres first competed for the United States in the Olympic Games in 1984, before many of her current teammates were born. And here she was Wednesday in Beijing, being asked another version of the "Are you clean?" question that has dogged her comeback.

"I've answered this question at least a thousand times," Torres began, looking weary for the only time during her news conference. "I think it's getting a little old."

Then she went into a brief explanation of how she has invited extra drug testing by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. And about the blood samples and the urine samples she provides so often and that will be kept in storage for "years on end," she said.

But Torres, in the minds of some, is guilty until proven innocent. She has been put into a difficult position because she lives in the same era as disgraced sluggers Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, disgraced sprinter Marion Jones and disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis. Asking Torres whether she's using steroids is like asking a husband when he stopped beating his wife. No answer is quite satisfactory.

So you either believe her, or you don't. And I'm going with Torres on this one.

No doper -- except one with a hidden desire to commit career suicide -- volunteers for extra testing. It's too risky. You never know when USADA is going to come up with a better test.

I think Torres is a freak -- but a natural freak. She specializes in the shortest events -- the women's 50 and 100 freestyle -- and she's been able to keep her edge in those splash-and-dash races, which don't require quite as much stamina or training as the longer events.

Admittedly, her story does sound too good to be true. Michael Phelps calls her his "sort-of Mom." She's the actual mother of 2-year-old Tessa, who helps soften Torres' muscular image and balance her priorities.

She looks at some of the kids less than half her age on this team and must resist the urge to mother them, she said Wednesday.

Particularly, she'd like to tell them to shut up when it's time for her to sleep. But she's trying to be more "big sister" and less "screaming mother" in that respect.

Torres does understand why reporters keep asking the drug questions. She knows her times have dropped. And she has competed against a number of swimmers in her career who have later been caught by drug testing.

"For those of us who have a conscience," she said, "we know we're doing it the right way."

For Torres, the right way includes resistance stretching, weight training and an amino-acid supplement made in Germany. That last fact has fueled more suspicions, but Torres has talked about it openly, and the product is legal.

Here in Beijing, Torres will swim three events -- two relays and her specialty, the 50 freestyle. She also finished first at the U.S. Olympic trials in the 100 free but gave up that spot to concentrate on the other three events.

Although U.S. swimmers Phelps and Katie Hoff undoubtedly will win more medals than Torres here, Torres will get an awful lot of airtime. She's too good a story -- win or lose, clean or dirty.

She can be funny, too. When an obsequious questioner asked Torres on Wednesday what it felt like to be "female, 40 and fierce," Torres cracked: "You sound like you're from Glamour magazine."

Torres is the kind of Olympics star we need. But we've been burned so many times in similar situations that skepticism is the easy road here.

I may have this column brandished in my face in a week when Torres fails a drug test at the Olympics and is sent home, her story in shambles.

But I don't think so. I'm picking faith over cynicism.

I believe her.