Torres recovering after knee surgery

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Five-time Olympian Dara Torres was "doing fine" after radical knee surgery but was still uncertain if she will compete at the 2012 London Games.

"It's a long road ahead of me but I'm glad I finally got the operation over with," the 42-year-old told Reuters Thursday in a telephone interview from her Boston hospital bed recently.

Torres, who has won medals at five different Olympics, had two pieces of cartilage placed into her left knee Tuesday and will be sidelined for 12-18 months.

"Doctors said it was worse than they expected," said Torres. "It ended up being a 3 1/2-hour surgery. Instead of transplanting one cartilage, they had to do two.

"It's the most painful thing I've ever gone through. But I'm doing fine right now."

Torres, who won three silver medals at the Beijing Games, said she will probably wait until next August to make a decision on the London Olympics.

"I'm only two days post-op so it's hard to say how the cartilage will hold up or if it will," she said.

"I'm hoping that I can at least make the decision of what I want to do based on how I feel mentally and physically -- not that I can't to it because of my knee. I'd like the choice."

Torres, who has won 12 Olympic medals, said she would "love to go for 2012. It would be a lot of fun."

"I'll definitely be the underdog, that's for sure," the four-time Olympic gold medallist said. "This will be one of the biggest decisions yet. Having a kid was hard - being a parent and doing my training.

"But this one is hard on the body. It's going to be quite a challenge."