Torres defends herself

PALO ALTO -- Life in the land of BALCO, a short car ride away from its old headquarters, and proximity to Barry Bonds’ former ballpark, it was almost certain that questions about banned substances would find their way to a 41-year-old mother.

For example:

Question: Would she be willing to be drug-tested in the future?

Answer: “Absolutely. I’ll be tested for however long they want me to test.”

Q: Would she allow results of her drug tests to be released?

A: “I would actually do that. If Travis [Tygart, of USADA] allows it. Absolutely. I need people to know that I’m clean and I’m doing this right.”

She would be Dara Torres and this was one slice of the scene around her Saturday morning at Stanford University. Torres was asked questions along this line, and many others, even before she qualified for an unprecedented fifth Olympics, by winning two individual events at the U.S. swimming trials in Omaha, the 100-meter freestyle and 50 freestyle.

Since then, the steady stream of questions has almost turned into a torrent since she left Nebraska, running from columns on the Internet to commentaries in newspapers, including this one, ranging from carefully couched language to stronger terms expressing suspicion of her ever-improving results.

Torres, who competed in her first trials in eight years, can understand the nature of sport, in this post-Bonds, post-Marion Jones world.

“Unfortunately, you can’t look someone in the eye and say, ‘I’m not taking drugs,’ ” said Torres, who dropped the 100 freestyle from her Olympic program. “You have to take action. I’ve really tried everything I possibly can to take action and prove that I’m clean.”

Swimming, of course, has not been immune from the taint of drugs. Just mention East Germany and China and Michelle Smith of Ireland. Torres had her suspicions about athletes too.

“You want to believe and you should give someone the benefit of the doubt, but unfortunately other athletes in the past have ruined that for a lot of people,” Torres said. “So I have to be somewhat, I guess, understanding that they are saying that. But I wish they would come to me and interview me and ask me before writing this stuff.”

The international impact of Torres and her story could be summed up in a glimpse around the room on media day here. She was almost surrounded by camera crews and reporters. Not far away was Michael Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman sitting with two, three, maybe four reporters.

Yes, that same Michael Phelps who could win eight gold medals in China.

Torres went over some old ground. She volunteered for Project Believe and has had her urine tested regularly, as well as blood. She disclosed at the trials that she has been taking WADA-approved amino acids and discussed her asthma medication and said she has been medically cleared, adding: “Basically I don’t why people are making such a big deal about it. It allows me to have the same breathing capacity as my competitors.”

Bonds was bound to come up. Torres was asked if she watched his record chase.

“No, I didn’t follow it at all,” she said. “There was too much evidence there. There was too much pointing to him. I became disinterested. . . . And I’m a Yankee fan anyway.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com