Four-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin recently revealed to ESPN that heartthrob Justin Bieber nearly ruined her amateur status with a care package he sent her during the Olympics.
“It was really sweet of him,” Missy told ESPN in the issue due out Dec. 10. “But it was considered a form of special treatment that could have jeopardized my amateur status. I’ve given up way too much and sacrificed too much to keep a Justin Bieber T-shirt and lose it all. So I sent it back.”
The phenom is signed up to swim for the back-to-back national champions of Cal Berkeley for about two years before she turns pro in preparation for the Rio Games in 2016.
All is not lost, however: Missy will get to see him live in Denver next month with tickets her friends bought her for her birthday, which will not lead to NCAA sanctions despite the fact that she was the only amateur athlete for whom her friend bought tickets, which no doubt crushed Katie Ledeckey.
And no, we didn’t just add Justin Bieber to the headline for clicks. Although, yes, we also kind of did.