5-time Olympic Medalist, Missy Franklin, starts 2013 off with a bang, swimming 2:07 in the 200 meter backstroke at the Austin Grand Prix. Outside of her high school swimming schedule (which is done with another state championships in the bag), Franklin will attend the Orlando Grand Prix, and she plans on “perhaps” taking a little rest to put down some fast swims at sectionals later this spring.
In the Gold Medal Minute presented by SwimOutlet.com interview above, Franklin’s roller coaster Olympic honeymoon period is recapped. After winning four Olympic gold medals, Franklin quickly returned to high school in the United States, and a brutal — but fun! — schedule of media appearances. Now, five months later, Franklin’s glad she did the Olympic appearances (all unpaid as she’s still an amateur), glad she learned how to handle it, and she’s focused on what she loves best, racing.
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Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. He is also the co-founder of SwimSwam. This video series is a Gold Medal Media production.
Missy Franklin may well be the darling of the American media these days after her 4 Olympic gold medals, helped quite a bit by her bubbly, engaging on-camera personality.
But if you stop to really think about it, focusing on substance over style: 2 of those golds came from team relay efforts where she wasn’t exactly the deciding factor; Vollmer & Soni were the dominant team members in the medley relay, and Schmitt made the decisive difference in the 4×200.
Of the 2 indivdual medals of hers, Franklin’s winning time in the 100 back was a telling 0.10 sec inferior to Seebolm’s Olympic record set in the heats. About the only race where Missy did actually live up… Read more »
Missy Franklin–“underperformed?”–It is clear that Missy can improve. But it is equally clear these comments attempt to minimize her accomplishments and her significance to the swims mentioned. This is “hatorade” masking itself as analysis or thoughtful opinion–a kinda trolling . . .
Agreed. Go Missy go!
“this is by no means to demean Missy Franklin’s achievements”….oh yes it was! What a terrible comment that is. She was a star in london and in her first Olympics as well. You need to encourage these young swimmers in their endeavours… not tear them down. She won more gold medals than many of the countries competing in the Olympics…Canada won 1 gold medal…so give it a rest or be a more positive person…disgraceful comments…shame on you!