Missy Franklin, the 17-year-old darling of the U.S. swim team in London, finally has her “normal” life back.
After winning five medals at her first Olympics – four gold and one bronze – Franklin returned to her home state of Colorado and started celebrating. She became a national celebrity, appearing on talk shows, attending awards banquets and receiving boxes of mail and gifts from around the world.
There were also recruiting trips – Franklin, a senior in high school, visited Georgia, Texas, USC and the University of California before picking the latter as her college choice. But now Franklin is back in her comfort zone: the pool.
Franklin told the Morning Swim Show that she resumed practicing five weeks after the Olympics ended. “It was the most horrible, awful thing ever. It was so terrible,” Franklin said of her time away from the water (apparently she really likes to swim). “And as every swimmer knows, getting back into shape is never fun.”
Something tells us she’s not in that bad of shape.
At any rate, Franklin confirmed she would return to competition at the Minneapolis Grand Prix Nov. 9-11. That’s the same meet where she won seven races in seven attempts two years ago. She went on to win the Grand Prix series that season with 101 points, 20 more than second-place Michael Phelps.
A few weeks after competing in Minnesota, Franklin will travel to New York City for the Golden Goggle Awards, USA Swimming’s annual banquet, where she’s up for more accolades.
And then she’ll get back to work. She’s got some laps to swim.
