Olympic Champion Swimmer Dara Torres Joins BC as Coach

The legendary Olympic swimmer Dara Torres has been hired as the new head coach of the Boston College swimming and diving program. During her competitive swimming career, Torres set six world records and ten American records and competed in five Olympic games, winning four gold, four silver, and four bronze medals.

Torres called her BC appointment a “full-circle moment” that allows her to give back to her sport and rebuild the program following its suspension for hazing issues during the 2023–2024 season. She will oversee both the men’s and women’s teams. “Obviously, the kids had a rough year last year, and the program has been at the bottom of the ACC conference for a while,” she said. “I’ve had many trials and tribulations in my life, but it’s about how you learn from them and put them in the rearview mirror and move forward.”

Since retiring from competitive racing, Torres has coached and mentored swimmers of various ages and skill levels and has worked as a swimming commentator. A globally recognized health and fitness advocate, she has also published a number of books, including the best-selling autobiography Age Is Just a Number and Gold Medal Fitness.

She said that her years of experience swimming at an elite level will inform her coaching. Competing in the Olympics, for instance, comes with an incredible amount of pressure, but Torres said she learned to block that out during her five appearances at the games. “You do things to try to relax and not overthink things,” she explained. “My thinking was that I had done all the work up to that point—the training, the turns, the nutrition, the workouts. So I just wanted to enjoy the experience and not overthink it.”

There’s something else that she said will also define her work with the swimmers at Boston College—bringing the joy back. Swimming can get monotonous, as athletes work their way back and forth across the pool, and Torres said she hopes she can remind them why they do it. “I want to get these student-athletes back to having fun,” she said. “I want to help them as their coach and share my passion for swimming and competing.”

Competing in the Olympics is a “crazy, cool feeling,” Torres said, but she’s thrilled for this opportunity to train the next generation of Eagle swimmers. “I wouldn’t have it any other way than to work with anyone but college swimmers right now,” she said. “BC has the tradition, and the atmosphere, and the environment to build a great program.”