http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2002Dec13.html
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Olympian Dolan Retires
Arlington Native Slowed by Breathing Problems
By Amy Shipley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 14, 2002; Page D02
Arlington's Tom Dolan wanted to try for another Olympics, another gold medal, another shot at breaking his own world record. Dolan never envisioned giving up competitive swimming now, at age 27, less than two years from a possible appearance at a third Summer Games.
But Dolan, an asthmatic, said yesterday he is retiring from the sport in which he has been a dominant figure for nearly 10 years because his body can no longer tolerate the pain. The winner of two individual Olympic gold medals in the 400 individual medley (1996 and 2000) and one silver in the 200 (2000), Dolan said his lifelong breathing troubles seem to have been exacerbated by a four-month bout with mononucleosis earlier this year.
Dolan spent the summer training with Rick Curl at the region's Curl-Burke Swim Club, waiting for a full recovery that, he said, never came. Even after the mono finally subsided in April, the pain in Dolan's lungs and the unusually labored breathing remained. Despite trips to countless physicians, efforts to pinpoint the problem failed.
Finally, Dolan decided enough was enough.
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He used his own battle with asthma, which occasionally forced him to cut short training sessions or swim to the side of the pool gasping for breath, to publicize the disease.
Dolan, a 1998 University of Michigan graduate who recently bought a home in Arlington, said he intends to remain in the area at least in the short-term. He said he will consider various business opportunities and might apply to business school.
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