By Amy Shipley

Dara Torres’s coach Michael Lohberg, 59, has been hospitalized again with complications relating to his year-long battle with aplastic anemia, a rare disorder in which the bone marrow functions improperly, Torres revealed during a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Torres, 42, said Lohberg is suffering from a blood infection and receiving antibiotics. She said she will still compete at the U.S. championships in Indianapolis next week in the 50- and possibly 100-meter freestyle events — and hopes Lohberg will be able to make the trip as planned.

“He said he doesn’t care what the doctors say, he is getting on an airplane Sunday,” Torres said.

Lohberg was diagnosed last summer, forcing him to miss Torres’s fifth Olympic Games as he sought immediate treatment. He resumed coaching Torres this year, but cannot get out to the pool deck on a daily basis and relies on his assistant, Bruno Darzi, to convey workouts at Torres’s training home in Coral Springs, Fla., she said.

Lohberg has been trying to find a place to get blood and platelets in Europe so he can attend this summer’s world championships in Rome if Torres qualifies for the team at the U.S. trials, Torres said. Torres, who won the Olympic silver in the 50 free, will be a favorite in that event.

Torres said she decided to return to the sport because she wasn’t burned out as usual after last summer’s Olympics.

“I have sort of a love-hate relationship with swimming,” Torres said. “Usually, after the Olympics I’m really kind of burned out and ready to move on, but I wasn’t burned out.”

Torres, however, is hurting physically. She said she has arthritis in her left knee, which limits her ability to do kicking drills or weight training on that leg, and makes walking up and down stairs a painful adventure. The knee will require major surgery at the end of the summer, she said.

“It’s old age,” Torres said. “After the summer’s over, I’m going to have to get my knee fixed … I can’t continue on with what I’m doing.”

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