How Dara Torres of USA won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympic after assisting her peer in the preliminaries.

On 15 August 2008, Dara Torres participated in the preliminaries of the 50-metre swimming freestyle event at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Competing in her fifth edition of the Games at the age of forty-one, she was about to take her position for the heats. Suddenly, the swimsuit of one of her fellow competitors tore. Dara assisted her, but the rip could not be repaired on the spot and necessitated a suit change. Dara walked away from her starting block and requested that the officials postpone the start so that her competitor could change her suit and not miss the heat. Once the competitor returned, the race started, and everyone got a fair shot. Dara then proceeded to win her semi-final and eventually took a silver medal in the event. Fair play is the spirit of a champion.

Learn more about fair play at the International Fair Play Committee’s website.