Missy Franklin ‘so grateful,’ embraces life after swimming
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Missy Franklin can still light up a room.
She’ll start off with that big, broad smile.
Then comes the bubbly laugh, summoned from deep in the belly.
Finally, there’s a boundless, almost child-like passion for whatever is on her mind.
“The thing that people always ask me about her, after they first meet Missy and she’s so nice, they wonder, ‘Is she like that all the time?’” said Jack Bauerle, her former coach. “Yes, that’s what she’s like all the time.”
Even now, when she has every reason to be bitter about a broken-down body that snuffed out her brilliant swimming career, Franklin still glides easily to the sunny side to life.
“One of the hardest things about retirement is having a lot of people ask — and I know they don’t always mean it negatively — but there’s this connotation of, ‘What are you going to do now?’” Franklin told The Associated Press during a recent interview. “People are assuming that I’ve already peaked.”
She wants everyone to know that’s not the case.
At 24, she feels like she’s just getting started.
“I can really make an impact outside the pool,” Franklin said. “That is one of the coolest things.”
For sure, her swimming peak was a sight to behold.
As a 17-year-old, high school senior-to-be, she turned in one of the greatest performances in Olympic history at the 2012 London Games, capturing four gold medals as well as a bronze.
The following summer, just before she went off to college at Cal-Berkeley, Franklin was even better. At the world championships in Barcelona, she became the first female swimmer to win six golds at the second-biggest meet after the Olympics.
The female version of Michael Phelps, it seemed.
But Franklin’s body would not let her fully realize her potential.
After a dismal showing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she qualified in just two events and won her only medal as a morning relay swimmer, Franklin underwent surgery on both shoulders. She transferred from Cal to the University of Georgia, hoping a change of scenery and working with Bauerle would help spur her comeback.
Unfortunately, her shoulders continued to hurt. When doctors told her she could undergo another surgery, but there was a less than 50% chance it would relieve her pain in the pool, Franklin decided to retire.
Just from swimming. Not from life. In September, Franklin married another former swimmer, Hayes Johnson. On Monday, she wrapped up her final class at Georgia, earning a degree in religion. On Wednesday, she and her husband packed up and headed for suburban
Denver, where Franklin grew up and the newlyweds have purchased a home.
“I would’ve loved to keep going as a swimmer,” Franklin said. “But I know I made the right decision.”
She is convinced that her best is yet to come, even if she doesn’t have the same sort of audience that she did in an Olympic pool.
Next summer, Franklin will attend the Tokyo Olympics to work with sponsors and spread a message about protecting the environment and dealing with climate change. She’s not quite clear where life is going to take her, but it’s clear that she wants to stay involved with swimming — especially if it gives her a chance to work with young people.