"I thought she had a chance to make the Olympics on a relay team if she was willing to work hard," Quick said. "I never dreamed she would do as well as she has."
When Torres decided to hop back in the pool, she put her life in the entertainment biz on hold and totally focused on her training. She moved from New York to Palo Alto, California, and began training with Quick at Stanford, alongside Thompson.
According to Quick, from the first day, Torres has been a new woman.
"She's been unbelievable," Quick said. "She has been consistently enthusiastic about the challenges of her training."
According to Torres and Quick, she has completely changed her workout habits from her previous swimming days in the 1980's.
She now spends countless hours cross-training. Much of her work is done outside of the pool, in the weight room. Quick started her on general strength exercises, on which she still spends a great deal of time. She also does spinning workouts.
Quick also has her use a biokinetic swim bench, which offers geared resistance to her stroke.
Then there's her famous stretching routine, which requires the aid of two trained professionals. Called resistive stretching, Torres basically lies on a mat while two men use their body weight to stretch her out.
"It is the most advanced and detailed stretching I've ever seen," Quick said.
Her eating habits also had to change. Gone are the days of carbo-loading, Torres now follows the Zone diet. Thirty percent of her diet consists of proteins like fish, poultry and shakes; 30 percent consists of the right fats, including avocados and macadamia nuts; and the remaining 40 percent of her food is carbohydrates like pasta and pancakes.
But getting into shape was only half the battle. Quick and Torres had to spend hours fine-tuning her stroke. They worked on every aspect of her mechanics, including her posture, line and balance in the water.
"I had to completely change my stroke," Torres said. "It was frustrating, learning everything over again. But it's been worth it."
The results of her training were drastic, as she quickly jumped into the upper echelon of women's swimming. She had developed a friendly rivalry with Thompson at Stanford, and the two pushed each other every time they were in the pool together.
By December 1999, Torres beat both Thompson and Van Dyken in the 50-meter freestyle at the U.S. Open Swimming Championships in San Antonio.
In 2000, all of her hard work is starting to have tremendous results. At the Spring Nationals from March 28 through April 1, she won the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events, took second in the 100-meter butterfly and third in the 200-meter freestyle. In all, she recorded seven lifetime bests at the meet.
At the Janet Evans Invitational, held in Los Angeles on July 13 to 16, Torres turned in a personal best of 54.47 in the 100-meter freestyle, which broke Thompson's 8-year-old American record of 54.48. She finished second, though, as Thompson bested Torres, posting a sizzling 54.27 to set a new record in the race.
That was the last meet for Torres until the Olympic Trials Aug. 9 to 16 in Indianapolis. The old competitor is beginning to emerge, and she has high hopes for the meet.
"I'm confident that I'll be faster at the trials," Torres said after Thompson beat her in Los Angeles. "I'm right where I want to be. That's fine that [Thompson] beat me. It's good. I like to be the hunter."
Torres has been hunting for personal Olympic glory since 1984. It looks like 2000 might finally be her year.
**Torres won five medals at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, including two golds for team relays and three bronze medals for her individual performances in the 100 meter butterfly, 100 meter freestyle and 50 meter freestyle.