Dana and Dara: Striking Similarities

This past week the DVR at the Chance household has been recording the Olympic Trials. Watching all these incredible athletes realize their dreams is wonderful. I have to say that am most impressed with Dara Torres. She is 41 and just blitzed the field in the 50 free and touched out Natalie Coughlin in the 100 free. Exercise Physiologists will tell you that as you age you lose speed and power. Dara has done the opposite and gotten faster. She was always fast and I think modern training methods and these new fast suits help a lot. She has been inspiring to me though.

I remember back in the mid to late 80’s Mark Spitz at 40 tried to make a comeback. He competed in a series of televised 50-meter swims against top competitors like Matt Biondi and Tom Jager for prize money. He was spanked.

I remember watching Dara swim at the LA Olympics in 1984. I can say I had a crush on her at the time. I have seen her in magazines and subsequent Olympics through the years but it wasn’t until now that I noticed some similarities between her and my wife Dana. When I saw her go the end of the lane and get ready for her swims, it was almost as if I was watching Dana. I have included some photos below.
Head shots. I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find a photo of Dana with her hair cut like that and with a black and white dress on.

Some action shots.

All dressed up.

When I was a kid in the 70’s, the Donny and Marie show was popular. It wasn’t really my thing at the time or anytime for that matter. He was never a “little bit rock and roll” to me. Unfortunately, in my younger days I bared a likeness to Donny Osmond. I would always get embarrassed when people reminded me of this. I heard it all the time. I would have rather looked like a famous athlete rather than a lame pop idol. I was looking for photos of Dara and this one caught my attention, our look alikes, Dara and Donny how sweet.