United States 'most significant team to represent,' Olympic legend Dara Torres says

Before Katie Ledecky was the talk of the United States Olympic Women’s Swim Team, Dara Torres was the swimmer breaking records and leading the headlines at the Games.

Torres was the first American Olympian to appear in five different Olympics. She is also tied for the most Olympic women’s swimming medals with 12. She had four gold, four silver and four bronze medals over the course of her Olympic career.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

Dara Torres looks at the clock after her Women's 50m freestyle preliminaries at the 2000 United States Olympic Swim Trials at the Indiana University Natatorium on Aug. 15, 2000 in Indianapolis. (AFP via Getty Images)

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Torres recalled what it meant to her to be able to wear the Stars and Stripes on a global stage.

"Those three letters U.S.A. are the most significant team to represent," the legendary swimmer said. "I’ve been on numerous swim teams and national teams and stuff, but when you have those three letters on your back, on your cap, it means something more than anything you could imagine. That you’re there representing your country and doing the best you can for your country. 

"It’s not easy to be on the Olympic team in swimming. You could be the world-record holder all year long, and you got the Olympic trials, and you have a cold, or you’re off that day and you don’t go unless you get first or second. It’s very nerve wrecking. So you know, when you make the Olympic team as part of the United States, that you’re the best of the best up there, and it’s just a very rewarding feeling."

From left to right, U.S. swimming team BJ Bedford, Megan Quann, Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres display a banner to thank their country after winning the gold medal in the women's 4X100 medley relay final on Sept. 23, 2000 at Sydney International Aquatic center. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)

OBAMA SURPRISES US OLYMPIC BASKETBALL TEAM, SAYS HE'S 'PRETTY CONFIDENT' THEY WILL WIN GOLD IN PARIS

Torres, who talked to Fox News Digital on behalf of her partnership with BOOST, won her last Olympic medal 24 years after winning her first.

She talked about what it was like to initially win that first medal as a teen and then to win again years later.

"I think when you win a medal when you’re 17 years old, you’re just kind of bouncing off the walls and kind of in awe of everyone else that’s there," she said. "I mean my first Olympics there was like Michael Jordan and Carl Lewis and Mary Lou Retton and all these like crazy athletes, kind of forgetting that I’m there too as an Olympian.

From left to right, Jenna Johnson, Nancy Hogshead, Carrie Steinseifer and Dara Torres of the United States celebrate winning the women's 4x100m freestyle relay during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games at Olympic Swim Stadium. (Porter Binks-USA TODAY NETWORK)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"But then, as I got older, and especially in 2008 when I won my three silvers, I just appreciated it more – the road it took to get there, what I had to do to sacrifice. I didn’t think of those things when I was 17. I was like, ‘Oh, cool, yeah, a medal.’ But when you’re older, it’s more the journey that you appreciate at an older age."

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.