This weekend, 41-year-old Dara Torres became the oldest swimmer to win an Olympic silver medal (she missed out on the gold in the Women's 50m Freestyle by 1/100th of a second), ultimately departing China with three silver medals to tie her with Jenny Thompson as the most decorated female U.S. Olympian in history, with 12 medals total.

But medals, records, and inspiration aside, I found myself captivated by Dara throughout the race because of the sense of fun she brought to the games.

It seemed like every time I turned on the TV, there she was — smiling, cheering on teammates, chatting and laughing with competitors, even holding off the start of a race to let a competitor fix a ripped bathing suit.

The NBC TV commentators didn't know what to make of her. They frequently referred to her as "Chatty Cathy" because she was constantly breaking the unwritten rules of Serious Competition by chatting happily with competitors moments before the whistle with a big smile on her face — then kicking (almost) everyone's ass in the water. … continue reading

AfterElton.com recently did a story on "gay newsmen." Gay female correspondents do exist too, but they are more likely to do "one shots," covering an event or a few events in a series.

Diana Nyad, the celebrated long-distance swimmer, has done a lot of high-profile broadcasting. I see her these days at awards shows — she hosted both the Billies and the Women's Sports Foundation dinner. Both times I have seen her talk, her focus was on her 102.5-mile swim from the Bahamas to Florida. She is pretty damn funny, reenacting parts of her swim on stage.

For an interesting take on sports news that's totally different from your average newscast, check out Nyad's weekly show on KCRW, The Score, on which she has covered everything from the recent doping scandal in cycling to boxing, dog sledding, tennis and climbing. She is also the sports correspondent for NPR's Marketplace and a host for Savvy Traveler. Before that, Nyad was the Senior Correspondent for Fox Sports News from 1996–2001, and was the anchor for ABC’s Wide World of Sports from 1980–1988.

She's come a long way since 1974, when, at age 24, she became the first person to cross Lake Ontario from north to south in 18 hours and 20 minutes. And that was merely one of her many amazing feats.