Missy franklin children

American swimmer, Olympic gold medalist (born )

This article is about the American swimmer. For the Harvard professor, see Melissa Franklin.

Melissa Franklin Johnson^[2] (born May 10, ) is an American former competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist.

She held the world record in the meter backstroke (long course) from to ^[3][4] As a member of the U.S. national swim team, she also held the world records in the 4×meter medley relay (short course and long course).^[5]

In her Olympic debut at the Summer Olympics at age 17, Franklin won a total of five medals, four of which were gold.

She swept the women's backstroke events, winning gold in both the meter and meter backstroke. Franklin's successes earned her Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year and the American Swimmer of the Year award in as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in and In total, she won twenty-eight medals in international competition: seventeen gold, six silver, and five bronze, spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, the short course World Championships, and the Pan Pacific Championships.

Natalie coughlin Missy Franklin (born May 10, , Pasadena, California, U.S.) is a former American swimmer who won five medals, including four golds, at the Olympic Games in London. Franklin was born in California, but her family moved to Centennial, Colorado, where she began swimming at the age of five.

Franklin's eleven gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships was a record in women's swimming before Katie Ledecky broke it in

Franklin won the Laureus WorldSportswoman of the Year award in ^[6] In December , she announced her retirement from the sport.^[7]

Early life

Franklin was born in Pasadena, California, the only child of Dick and D.

A. Franklin. When she was a baby, her mother was very worried about water safety, so Franklin started swimming purely because her parents wanted her to get comfortable with the water.^[8] She grew up in Aurora, Colorado, and began taking swimming classes there at the age of five, at the urging of her mother.

She attended Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado, and graduated in ^[9]

Both of Franklin's parents are Canadian and Franklin holds American and Canadian dual citizenship.^[10] Her father, Dick, was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. A former All-Canadian football player for Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he played briefly for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League as an offensive lineman.

After an injury ended his football career, he returned to Halifax to pursue an MBA degree at Dalhousie University, where he met his future wife, a medical student. While working for 7-Up in Ontario, Dick was transferred to the United States. Ultimately the family settled in Denver, Colorado, where Dick had a senior position with Coors Brewing Company.^[10] Franklin's mother suggested that her daughter consider competing for Canada to ease the pressure of qualifying for the U.S.

National Team due to the competitive depth of American swimmers. Franklin, however, chose to represent the United States, citing her patriotism for her homeland.^[11]

Franklin is 6&#;ft 2&#;in (&#;cm) tall and has women's size 13 inch feet. "We call them built-in flippers," says her father.^[12] She has been coached by Todd Schmitz from the Colorado Stars club team since she was 7 years old.^[13]

During her rise to stardom surrounding the Olympics, Franklin continued to refuse prize money and endorsements so that she could maintain her amateur status to compete in college.^[14][15] In , she accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she began swimming for coach Teri McKeever's California Golden Bears women's swimming team during the –14 academic year.^[16][17] At Cal, Franklin is a four-time individual NCAA champion: winning the yard freestyle in and , and the yard backstroke and individual medley in She won the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top female swimmer in , as well as the Honda Cup awarded to the nation's top female athlete.^[18][19] After the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, in which Franklin won three individual NCAA titles, Franklin turned professional, thus ending her NCAA career.

After leaving Berkeley to train for the Olympics with her Colorado team, in January Franklin elected to begin training at the University of Georgia.^[1] She graduated with a degree in religion from the University of Georgia in December ^[20]

Swimming career

Early career

At the age of seven, Franklin joined the Colorado Stars travel swim team.

It was not obvious to Franklin's parents that Missy possessed such a natural talent until other members’ parents brought it to her parents’ attention.

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At the age of twelve, Franklin began competing against girls who were much older than her.^[8] At the age of 13, Franklin competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, but did not qualify to swim in any events at the Summer Olympics. Her best result was 37th place in the meter freestyle.

By the time Missy graduated from high school, she possessed half of the Colorado High School Activities Association time records for girls high school swim.^[21][22][23]

At the National Championships, Franklin competed in six individual events, and qualified to swim at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships by finishing second in the and meter backstroke.^[24][25] At the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Franklin finished fourth in the meter backstroke and did not make the A final for the and meter backstroke.^[26][27][28] Franklin earned the first international medals of her career at the FINA Short Course World Championships in Dubai.

In the meter backstroke, Franklin finished in second place, behind French swimmer Alexianne Castel.^[29] Franklin also earned a silver medal in the 4×meter medley relay for her contribution in the heats.^[30] For her performance in , Franklin won the Breakout Performer of the Year Award at the seventh annual Golden Goggle Awards.^[31]

World Championships

See also: Swimming at the World Aquatics Championships

In her first long course world championship meet at the World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Franklin won a total of five medals, three gold, one silver, and one bronze.

In her first event, the 4×meter freestyle relay, Franklin won a silver medal with Natalie Coughlin, Jessica Hardy and Dana Vollmer in a time of Swimming the second leg, Franklin had a split of , the second-best among all participants.^[32] Franklin won her first individual medal, a bronze, in the meter backstroke, finishing behind Russian Anastasia Zuyeva and Japanese Aya Terakawa.^[33] Shortly after the meter backstroke final, Franklin competed in the 4×meter freestyle relay with Dagny Knutson, Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt and won gold ahead of Australia and China in a time of Franklin's lead-off time of was faster than the winning time of Italian Federica Pellegrini in the individual meter freestyle final ().^[34] After setting the national record in the semi-finals of the meter backstroke (), Franklin dominated the field in the final with a time of , breaking her own national record and winning gold.

Hayes johnson

Melissa Franklin Johnson[2] (born May 10, ) is an American former competitive swimmer and five-time Olympic gold medalist.

This was Franklin's first individual world title, and her time in the final was the third-fastest effort of all time.^[35] Shortly after the meter backstroke final, Franklin competed in the 4×meter medley relay with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer and won gold with a time of , over three seconds ahead of second-place finisher China.

Swimming the freestyle leg, Franklin had a split of , the fastest in the field. The final time of for the medley relay was the second-fastest effort of all time, just behind the Chinese-owned world record of ^[36] For her performance at these championships, she won the Female Athlete of the Year, Female Race of the Year (meter backstroke), and the Relay Performance of the Year (4×meter medley relay) Award at the eighth annual Golden Goggle Awards.^[37] She was also named the best female swimmer for by FINA Aquatics World Magazine.^[38]

National Championships

Three days after the World Aquatics Championships ended in Shanghai on July 30, Franklin traveled to Palo Alto, California to compete at the National Championships, which began on August 2.

At these championships, Franklin competed in four individual events, and the 4×er career in the meter backstroke and freestyle.^[39][40] She also placed fourth in the meter individual medley and twelfth in the meter freestyle.^[41][42]

First world records

Towards the end of in October, at the FINA Swimming World Cup, Franklin set the first world record of her career in the meter backstroke, bettering the previous record of held by Shiho Sakai with a time of In breaking the record, Franklin became the first female to break an individual world record since the high-tech bodysuits were banned in January ^[3] Franklin's second world record came at the Duel in the Pool in December.

In the 4×meter medley relay, Franklin combined with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer to break the previous American-owned world record in a time of , bettering the previous record of Swimming the freestyle leg, Franklin had a split of ^[5]

London Summer Olympics

See also: Swimming at the Summer Olympics

During the preparation for the London Summer Olympic trials, Franklin could be drug tested from six in the morning until eleven at night, and had to report where she was at all times.

She would be given one hour a day and within that hour she had to be at that exact location, in case they would come to drug test her. Franklin started training for the London Olympics with Kara Lynn Joyce on the Colorado stars swim team. Within the London Olympic trials, Franklin became the first female to qualify for seven Olympic events.^[43]

Trials

At the United States Olympic Trials, Franklin qualified to swim in four individual events at the Summer Olympics.

In her first event, the meter backstroke, Franklin won the final with a time of , breaking Natalie Coughlin's American record of seconds.^[44] In her second event, the meter freestyle, Franklin placed second behind Allison Schmitt by over two seconds with a time of ^[45] In her third individual event, Franklin finished second in the meter freestyle behind Jessica Hardy with a time of ^[46] Her second-place finish came less than half an hour after swimming in the meter backstroke semi-finals, where she finished first overall with a time of In the meter backstroke final, her fourth individual event, Franklin finished first with a time of ^[47]

Olympics

On the first day of the swimming competition at the Olympics in London, Franklin won a bronze medal in the 4×meter freestyle relay with Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal, and Allison Schmitt, with the U.S.

team finishing behind Australia and the Netherlands.^[48] Swimming the lead-off leg, Franklin had a personal best of seconds and the team finished with a total time of , an American record. Franklin's first leg in the relay was also the fastest lead-off of the field. In her first individual event on the third day of the swimming competition, the meter backstroke, Franklin won the gold medal with a time of seconds, beating her own national record.^[49] Her win in the backstroke came less than fifteen minutes after completing the meter freestyle semi-finals, where she qualified for the final.

Biography missy franklin Both of Franklin's parents are Canadian and Franklin holds American and Canadian dual citizenship. [10] Her father, Dick, was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. A former All-Canadian football player for Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he played briefly for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League as an offensive.

The following day, Franklin competed in the meter freestyle and placed fourth in the final with a time of , one one-hundredth of a second behind third-place finisher Bronte Barratt.^[50] A day after the meter freestyle, Franklin won her third medal of the meet, a gold, in the 4×meter freestyle relay with Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland and Allison Schmitt.

Swimming the lead-off leg, Franklin posted a time of and the U.S. team finished with a time of , a new American record.^[51] A day after completing the relay, Franklin competed in her third individual event, meter freestyle. In the final, Franklin placed fifth with a time of seconds.^[52] Franklin was able to bounce back from that performance, and in her fourth and last individual event held the following day, the meter backstroke, Franklin won her second individual gold of the Olympics with a world record time of , bettering Kirsty Coventry's record of In winning the meter backstroke, Franklin also became the first American female to win the event at the Olympics since Melissa Belote did in , forty years earlier.^[53] In her final event, the 4×meter medley relay, Franklin won gold with Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer and Allison Schmitt.

Swimming the backstroke leg, Franklin recorded a time of seconds, and the U.S. team went on to set the world record with a time of , besting the Chinese-owned record of set in ^[54]

At the end of the year, Franklin was named the World Swimmer of the Year and American Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine.

She was also named the best female swimmer for by FINA Aquatics World Magazine.

World Championships

At the US National Championships, Franklin qualified to swim in five individual events at the World Aquatics Championships. At the National Championships, she finished first in the and meter freestyle and backstroke, and second in the meter backstroke.

At the World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Franklin swam seven total events – four individual and three relays, though she later withdrew from the meter backstroke after the heats. At the meet, Franklin won six gold medals, setting a new record for the most golds won by a female swimmer at a single edition of the World Championships.^[55] Despite being the first woman in history to win six gold medals at a single World Championships, she lost out the award of Swimmer of the Meet to teammate Katie Ledecky for her two world record-breaking performances and four gold medals.

On the first day of the pool competition and her first event the 4×meter freestyle relay, Franklin lead-off the relay with a time of She was over a second behind Australia's lead-off Cate Campbell, but teammates Natalie Coughlin and Shannon Vreeland made up some ground and anchor Megan Romano overtook the Australian team in the last 20 meters to give the Americans the gold medal.

The final time of was an American record, breaking the previous record of In her first individual event held on the third day of the pool competition, the meter backstroke, Franklin won gold in a time of , six-tenths of a second ahead of Emily Seebohm of Australia. On the fourth day, Franklin decided to scratch the meter backstroke since it was right before the meter freestyle.

In the meter freestyle, Franklin won her third gold in a personal best time of , touching seconds ahead of second-place finisher Federica Pellegrini. On the fifth day, Franklin won gold in the 4×meter freestyle relay along with teammates Katie Ledecky, Shannon Vreeland, and Karlee Bispo. Swimming the anchor leg and diving in with a deficit of over a second, Franklin was able to track down Australian Alicia Coutts, recording a split of and the team finishing with a time of On the sixth day, Franklin competed in the meter freestyle and placed fourth in the final with a time of , just missing the medal podium.

A day after her meter freestyle swim, Franklin successfully defended her title in the meter backstroke, winning with a time of and setting a new championship record. In her last event, the 4×meter medley relay, Franklin combined with Jessica Hardy, Dana Vollmer, and Megan Romano to win gold in a time of Swimming the backstroke leg, Franklin recorded a time of

U.S.

National Championships

At the U.S. National Championships, Franklin won the meter backstroke with the third fastest American time ever, leading a sweep of the event by Cal Berkeley swimmers.^[56] She also won the meter backstroke and the meter freestyle, and finished second in the meter freestyle behind Katie Ledecky.^[57][58][59]

Pan-Pacific Championships

Despite being hampered by a back injury, Franklin swam in four individual events and three team relays at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

In total, she won one gold, two silvers, and one bronze medal.

Franklin won her only individual medal in the meter backstroke by finishing third with a time of In the meter freestyle and the meter backstroke, she placed fourth. In the meter freestyle, Franklin failed to qualify for the A final, but won the B final with the second-fastest time among all finalists, securing her place on the U.S.

team for the World Championships in this event.

Franklin teamed with Shannon Vreeland, Leah Smith, and Katie Ledecky to win the 4×meter freestyle relay. Swimming with Simone Manuel, Abbey Weitzeil, and Vreeland, Franklin placed second in the 4×meter freestyle relay, and with teammates Jessica Hardy, Kendyl Stewart, and Manuel, she finished second in the 4×meter medley relay.

World Championships

At the World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia, Franklin competed in the and meter backstroke, the and meter freestyle, and four relay events. She won a bronze medal as a member of the U.S. team in the 4×meter freestyle relay, and another bronze in the meter freestyle.

She finished fifth in the final of the meter backstroke. Franklin won her first gold medal of the championships as a member of the first-place U.S. team in the women's 4×meter freestyle relay. She also won a silver in the meter backstroke event and gold in the mixed 4×meter freestyle relay.

FINA World Cup

On August 15 and 16, Franklin swam in the second stop of the FINA World Cup.

She competed in four events: and meter backstroke; and meter freestyle. In the first day of the races she qualified for the final in the meter backstroke and meter freestyle events where she won bronze and silver, respectively. During the next day of the event, Franklin won silver in meter freestyle and bronze in meter backstroke.

Rio Summer Olympics

Trials

In , Franklin placed second in the m freestyle,^[60] m backstroke,^[61] and also qualified for the 4 × m freestyle team at the US Olympic Swimming Trials.

Olympics

At the Summer Olympics Franklin tied for 13th place in the m freestyle semifinals, with a time of , and did not make the cut for the finals.^[62] She placed 7th in the meter backstroke for her heat in the semifinals and did not make the finals.

Also at the Summer Olympics, Franklin won a gold medal in the 4 × m freestyle relay for swimming in the heats.

Retirement

Franklin announced her retirement from the sport of swimming on December 19, ^[63][64] She is an ambassador for the USA Swimming Foundation and is a principal spokesperson for the Saving Lives Is Always in Season national campaign.^[65]

Personal bests

As of April 7,

World records

No.	Pool	Distance	Event	Time	Meet	Location	Date	Age	Note(s)	Ref
1	SC	&#;m	Backstroke		World Cup	Berlin, Germany	October 22,	16	[66]
2	SC	4×&#;m	Medley relay		Duel in the Pool	Atlanta, Georgia, US	December 16,	16	[a]	[67]
3	LC	&#;m	Backstroke		Summer Olympics	London, United Kingdom	August 3,	17	[53]
4	LC	4×&#;m	Medley relay		Summer Olympics	London, United Kingdom	August 4,	17	[b]	[54]

^a Short course record with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer.

Franklin swam the freestyle leg (anchor leg) in a time of

^b Record set with Rebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer, and Allison Schmitt. Franklin swam the backstroke leg (lead-off leg) in a time of

Personal life

Franklin says her favorite athlete is Natalie Coughlin.^[68]

Franklin was raised Christian but did not attend church or identify as religious until reading the Bible and taking theology classes in high school.

As a Religion major at the University of Georgia, she took courses in several religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.^[69] She had already practiced yoga recreationally for three years, but learning about its Hindu roots in college made it a more spiritual experience for her.^[70] At the time of her retirement, her academic interest in Hinduism was misreported as her being an adherent; in an interview about her Christian faith, Franklin said her Hindu interests were "blown a little bit out of proportion."^[70][71][69]

Franklin got engaged to Hayes Johnson, who swam at the University of Texas, on September 22, ^[72] The couple married on September 14, ^[73] In March she and her husband announced they were expecting a child.

On August 11, , their daughter Sarah Caitlin Johnson was born.^[74] On October 31, , Franklin announced that she is pregnant with their second daughter.^[75]

In popular culture

Franklin appeared in a March episode of Pretty Little Liars as herself. She is the subject of the documentary Touch the Wall along with Kara Lynn Joyce.

The film is directed by Christo Brock and Grant Barbeito, and documents Franklin's and Joyce's journey to the London Olympics. The film was noted for its celebration of female physical and emotional strength.^[76] Franklin had a cameo in the big-budget comedy The Internship, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.^[77]

See also

Bibliography

Notes

References