Torres’ Olympic bubble bursting

By BETH HARRIS

Swimmer Dara Torres’ coach, Michael Lohberg, has a rare blood disorder.

This was supposed to be a thrilling time for Dara Torres.

Preparing to swim in her record fifth Olympics at age 41 and with a chance to add to her pile of 10 career medals, she got the shock of her life.

Torres’ coach, Michael Lohberg, was stricken with a rare, potentially fatal blood disorder that has left his star swimmer devastated and prone to crying jags two weeks before the Beijing Games.

“It’s just been an emotional roller coaster. I’m in total shock,” Torres said. “I cry a lot and get very emotional.”

Torres found out Tuesday before practice that Lohberg has aplastic anemia, in which the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough new cells, leading to fatigue, increased risk of infection and uncontrolled bleeding. Treatment can involve blood transfusions or a bone marrow transplant.

Lohberg had gone to a South Florida hospital last week believing he was having back surgery to repair a herniated disk, but “the next thing you know, you’re falling apart,” he said from his hospital bed at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

“At the hospital in Florida, they didn’t know what to do anymore because whatever they tried didn’t work,” he said. “Now we’ll see if these people have other methods.”

The 58-year-old coach had been tired in recent weeks, but he assumed it was nothing out of the ordinary. The herniated disk had bothered him during the U.S. Olympic trials this month, when Torres won the 50- and 100-freestyles.

She later dropped the 100 free for Beijing to focus on her specialty, the 50 free, and swim on some relays.

Lohberg, born in Germany, has coached Torres for two years at Coral Springs Swim Club near Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

He is not part of the U.S. coaching staff in Beijing, but Lohberg was going to be there to oversee Torres and the other seven Olympians from five countries that he coaches.

Now, Torres can communicate with him only by phone as he confronts his stunning diagnosis and she makes her historic Olympic trip.

“It was our journey and I feel like I’m missing a part of me while I’m doing this,” she said. “I know he’s with me [in spirit] and the most important thing is he’s getting the best care now. I at least feel more comfortable about that.”