French larvae swam faster than Swedish larvae (main effect Latitude, Table 1, Fig. 2).
Newt larvae swam faster after than before a predation trial, which produced positive S U max values.
And in a sport often given over to teenagers, she is swimming faster than ever at age 33, having overcome the rust of a long layoff and a battle with bulimia that left her forcing herself to throw up even during the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea.
From the outside, Dara appears confident and tough but internally, her struggles are not unlike many of us: "Really, I have two opposing sides to myself -- the fierce competitor who thinks she can swim faster than anybody else, and the vulnerable woman desperate to please others and afraid to fail".
She had been laid low by the flu in the weeks leading to the nationals, at one point becoming severely dehydrated, so she expected to swim faster here.
And she has been swimming faster than ever, using weight training, yoga and stretching exercises to increase her strength and flexibility.
She entered a masters competition and swam fast enough to qualify for the 2008 United States trials.
In the last 50m, she swam even faster than the winner of the men's event, US star Ryan Lochte.
"I know she'll swim fast," Bidrman said.
Beard, 28, who was competing in her first major meet since retiring after the Beijing Olympics and giving birth last September to her first child, had not considered that she might swim fast enough to qualify for the Pan Pacific team.
