1. sport finalC10
gulfnews.com | Saturday, April 5, 2014 | Gulf News
Missy Franklin: A study in happiness
American swimming superstar thoroughly enjoying combining academia with sporting success
Kuala Lumpur
F
or swimming superstar
Melissa ‘Missy’ Frank-
lin, life is as saccharine
sweet as her American
teen sweetheart de-
meanour.
Her magnificent haul of six
gold medals at last summer’s
World Championships in Bar-
celona — a record for the event
— led to her winning the unof-
ficial Oscar of sport, the Lau-
reus World Sportswoman of the
Year Award, on March 26.
That was no mean feat, the
18-year-old having prevailed
over strong competition from
the likes of Serena Williams,
the finest tennis player on the
planet and one of the greatest
in history.
Little wonder, then, that
Franklin resembled a child at
Christmas both on receiving
her award and in the build-up
to the prestigious ceremony.
Bubbly and incessantly smi-
ley and giggly, everything in
Franklin’s universe is, in her
own words, “awesome”, “in-
credible” or “unbelievable”,
and she treats journalists with
the same warmth and cheer-
fulness as she would her most
cherished friend.
Not even questions about the
chore of studying at college can
tarnish her utopian existence.
The 6ft 1ins Californian, who
is majoring in psychology at the
University of California, Berke-
ley, says the relentless grind of
academia, which she is pur-
suing while eschewing prize
money and endorsements as an
amateur, is “really great and so
much fun”.
Her admission becomes all
the more impressive (or sicken-
ing, depending on how cynical
you are) when you consider the
additional burden she carries
on her broad shoulders — that
of being an elite sportswoman.
Franklin, who shot to world-
wide prominence by winning
four gold medals at the Lon-
don 2012 Olympics, wakes up
at 5am every morning and
dives headlong into an exhaus-
tive and exhausting schedule
of classes, revision, swimming
and fitness work.
“It’s definitely a little hectic,
I don’t have much free time at
all,” she admits matter of factly
without a hint of regret, before
giggling girlishly as she recited
her repetitive and gruelling re-
gime.
Daily routine
“I wake up normally around
5am, train for two hours in
the morning, then I have class.
Then I come back and we have
weights for about an hour, then
we train for another two hours,
then I have class after that.
Then I have class after that,
then I have homework after
class. And then we get up and
repeat it next day. I go to bed at
9pm and we don’t even have a
TV in our dorm.”
“I love what I do so much and
every sacrifice seems so small,”
she added. “Everyone has to
sacrifice something, whether
it’s for your job or for school. It
teaches us so much about our-
selves if we are willing to give
up things and work hard to
reach our goals.”
For most top athletes with
super-sized egos to match their
voluminous talents, having to
deal with frugality of student
life would be simply unbearable
having been inured to sumptu-
ous hotel suites and haute cui-
sine.
Yet Franklin insists things
have not changed dramatically
since she won global sport-
ing recognition, apart from
the burgeoning attendances to
watch her in action at college
swim meets.
“It’s honestly not that differ-
ent to before,” she said. “It’s a
really normal experience and
really fun.”
One journalist present at
the pre-Laureus awards me-
dia briefing thought she would
probe for a chink in this epit-
ome of blissful contentment’s
armour.
Had she struggled to work
the washing machine, as the
retired American swimming
great Michael Phelps did in
his first year at university, she
asked?
Freshman blues
“I’ve had the same struggles
as every freshman at college,
living alone,” Franklin replied,
with a trademark flurry of
laughs.
“Being away from home,
being away from your family,
eating dorm food and cafete-
ria food all the time, doing
your laundry for first time,
it’s all part of the experi-
ence.
“That’s exactly why I
wanted to go to college, to
get those experiences. My
roommate is a freshman on
the team and we’ve become
best friends. It’s just like a
roomie match in heaven. It’s
been really great, so much
fun and I’ve already made
friends on the team that
I know I am going to have
my whole life, which is
why I’m doing it.”
Yet while she por-
trays herself as an or-
dinary teenager, Frank-
lin would not be one of
the greatest swimmers in
the world if she did not pos-
sess an extraordinary com-
petitive instinct.
“I think one thing I’ve re-
alised through swimming is I
am able to flick a switch,” she
said. “And that’s where I can
be really bubbly and really
happy and really excited but
when it is time to race, I know
it and I am able to really home
into what I am doing and fo-
cus on the event coming up. I
am still having fun while I am
doing that.
“But the sensation of being
in the zone is incredible and
that’s one reason we do our
sport, for that moment. [It’s
great] right before we race,
when you know you’ve put in
the work, know you’ve put in
the training, and you’re be-
hind the block and you’re just
ready.”
She went on: “That excite-
ment of feeling you can’t wait
to get out there and show eve-
ryone what you can do and
prove to yourself what you can
do, there’s no better feeling
than that. So that’s why I like to
smile before a race: To remind
myself to have fun and remind
myself why I am doing it.”
Franklin would be forgiven
for being crippled by fear at
the prospect of following the
strokes of genius achieved by
American swimming legends,
Phelps and Mark Spitz.
Yet she insists she is inspired
by their Olympic medal-win-
ning magnificence of the past
and is eager to create her own
legacy.
“I want to have my own
goals and aspirations,” she
said.
“Watching what these ath-
letes have done is absolutely
inspiring. I’d love to accom-
plish something like [what
they did] some day.
“My relationship with Mi-
chael is incredible. He’s of-
fered assistance and been
absolutely incredible. I feel
like it’s hard to be called
the female Michael Phelps.
Because there really is no
other Michael Phelps,
male or female.
“He’s so unique. What
anyone does would nev-
er be the way he did it.
“And it’s just so in-
credible to know that
he’s Michael Phelps. So
I always want to say I’m
the female Missy Frank-
lin and hopefully create
my own legacy.”
A meeting with Spitz, who
claimed a then-world record
seven gold medals in the pool
at the 1972 Olympic Games
(Phelps won one more at the
2008 Games), transformed
Franklin into a starstruck teen
meeting her pop idol.
Of her encounter ahead
of the Laureus World Sport
Awards, she said: “I met Mark
Spitz in the elevator yester-
day morning. And he was
like, ‘Missy?’ and I was like.
‘Yeah?’.
“I didn’t recognise him
without the moustache. He
was like, ‘I’m Mark Spitz’. I
was like, ‘Oh my gosh, do you
know how cool you are?’. And
I totally fan-girled.”
Under her coach Teri Mc-
Keever — she ended her ten-
year association with former
mentor Todd Schmitz last
year — Franklin insists she
has “room for improvement”
despite her Barcelona heroics.
Live in the present
But she says her thoughts
have not yet turned to the 2016
Rio Olympics, revealing she
prefers to live in the present.
Furthermore, like Phelps, she
wants to transcend her sport.
She said: “He showed how
awesome it [swimming] is.
I’m a little biased but I think
it’s really incredible, not just
in terms of a sport, but also
in terms of safety. It’s getting
people to be water safe. That’s
one of my goals as an athlete
in this sport.
“I really want to raise
awareness about making chil-
dren water safe and getting
them involved in local swim
teams, whether they are doing
it competitively or just for fun.
“It’s a great way of meeting
new people. I‘ve learned so
much about myself from this
sport. It’s changed my life.”
Mature beyond her years,
Franklin is acutely aware that
a sporting career can be a brief
one, and therefore recognises
the need to focus on other
things in life.
Biggest goal is to be a mum
“One of my biggest goals
in life is to be a mum,” she
said. “I want to have a family
some day. I kind of know I am
meant to be a swimmer and I
know I am meant to be a mum
one day. I think it’s important
to have dreams and goals out-
side your sport.
“Although swimming is
such an important part of who
I am, it doesn’t define who I
am.
“That’s one of the things
sports can teach us. It can
show us about ourselves and
teach about ourselves, but it
doesn’t define ourselves.”
With such a wise head on
her young shoulders, allied to
her innate skill and work eth-
ic, Franklin is surely destined
for further greatness.
And whatever she does in
the future, it’s certain she will
be deliriously happy doing it.
By Euan Reedie, Deputy
Sports Editor
Kuala Lumpur
L
aureus World Sportswoman of the Year Missy Frank-
lin says the prestigious award means more to her than
winning a medal at a major competition.
Franklin said she was honoured just to be nominated for
the accolade alongside stellar sporting names such as tennis
ace Serena Williams, Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva
and Jamaican sprint star Shelley-Ann Fraser.
The 18-year-old added that the ideals of Laureus, which
supports underprivileged youngsters through community-
based sports projects, matched her own.
She said: “All awards mean different things, but some-
thing like this can almost mean more than winning a medal
or achieving a best time. Coming from an organisation with
such similar values to myself and so many of the other
athletes here, it’s just such an honour to be recognised by
such a huge organisation that stands for the same things
as you do.
“Laureus is in 34 countries now and reached over a
million-and-a-half kids. That’s just unbelievable, using
sport to change the world.”
Franklin said she did not feel superior to her five fel-
low nominees, adding: “I think all the nominees in every
single category are amazing. I’ve spent hours Googling
them and reading their story. And it’s unbelievable what
all of these athletes have accomplished. So honestly, just
to be here, I am thrilled, I am just excited.”
The 18-year-old said she was particularly delighted to
be named alongside fellow American Williams in the nom-
inations.
“I grew up watching Serena play tennis,” she said. “Her
and her sister [Venus] are absolutely incredible. They have
done so much for their sport and sport in general. Serena is
such a great representation of what Laureus is all about –
using sport to change the world. All the things she does are
really incredible.”
‘Laureus award means
more than winning a medal’
By Euan Reedie
Deputy Sports Editor
Worth its weight in gold
Crowning
glory
■■ Missy Franklin
with the
Laureus World
Sportswoman of
the Year Award
at a ceremony in
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, on
March 26.
The award is
considered the
unofficial Oscar
of sport.
Rex Features
Rex Features
Winning smile
■■ Franklin with the 200m
backstroke gold at the
World Championships in
Barcelona, in August last
year. She claimed a record
six gold medals at the event.
Rex Features
Going for gold
■■ The teenager won the 100m backstroke gold medal at the
2012 London Olympics, one of four successes she had there.
❝“I love what I do
so much and every
sacrifice seems so
small. Everyone
has to sacrifice
something,
whether it’s for
your job or for
school. It teaches
us so much about
ourselves if we are
willing to give up
things and work
hard to reach our
goals.”
Missy Franklin |
Swimmer