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Five-time Olympic champion swimmer Missy Franklin discusses her career highlights, strong leaders in women’s sport and her advice on being an athlete and a mum
Five-time Olympic champion swimmer Missy Franklin discusses her career highlights, strong leaders in women’s sport and her advice on being an athlete and a mum
Aged 17, Missy Franklin became a swimming superstar when she won four Olympic gold medals at the London Olympics in 2012. But she could never repeat that success at the next Olympics. For International Women’s Day, she spoke to Sky Sports News about success, family, mental health, making a difference with the charity Laureus, and why she is still known for being the girl from a viral Carly Rae Jepson video.
Labelled ‘Missy the Missile’, Franklin became a household name after winning five Olympic medals, including four gold, at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Franklin says she had the “time of her life in London” and that swimming had been her life since she was five years old.
Franklin exceeded expectations by taking gold in both the 100m and 200m backstroke events and even broke a world-record time during the longer distance. She then helped set another world record during the 4x100m medley relay, securing a third gold. The 4x200m freestyle relay earned her the fourth.
Missy Franklin said she had the ‘time of her life’ at the 2012 London Olympics where she won four gold medals
She said: “To be able to continue to do it and succeed at that level, reach the Olympic Games at 17 was so surreal and it was an amazing experience for me.”
Franklin also said there was no pressure on her because it was her first Olympics, so she was really able to enjoy the moment.
Missy Franklin won four Olympic gold medals at London 2012 and one gold at the Rio Games
That viral Call Me Maybe video with Phelps and Lochte…
Franklin returned home after winning her four Olympic golds and said “it was hysterical because when I came back from London, it was like 50/50 whether I was recognised as the Olympic swimmer or the girl from the Call Me Maybe video.
Explaining why the US swimming team made the video, she told Sky Sports News they came up with the idea at an international training camp where they had “a lot of energy” and were “a little bored.”
She said: “Our thought process at the time was Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe was very popular, and a lot of teams were doing singalong karaoke videos to it, and we were like, why don’t we – what else are we going to do?”
The lip-sync video on YouTube has over 18 million views and features most of the US swimming team.
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Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, appears at the beginning, while Ryan Lochte is seen in a brief appearance blowing a kiss to the camera. Team members Alyssa Anderson, Kathleen Hersey and Caitlin Leverenz were the driving force in the project. Sequences were filmed underwater, on slides, and also famously on an aeroplane.
But it was the enthusiasm, passion and huge smile of Missy Franklin that made just as many people in the United States recognise her for her role in the viral video in 2012, than for her winning four Olympic golds.
Franklin admits nobody imagined how popular it would become. “I don’t think any of us could have imagined what would happen. I was just at an event and I think someone said it had something like 18 million views,” adds the 28-year-old, who won eleven gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships.
“But it was so fun because I felt like it gave the world a very insightful look into what our team was like and the personalities on our team and truly just how joyful it was. We were really just having fun and all of us were just so happy to be there. That video really encompasses that.”
‘Swimming broke up with me’
After a stellar career, Franklin announced her retirement in 2018 at just 23 years old. She had described it as if “swimming broke up with her”.
Speaking to Maryam Chaudhary, she said: “I do describe it like that because I think that’s a very easy way for people to understand it, because most of us have been through a hard break-up, and it’s hard to let go of something that has been such an important part of your life for so long. And it’s scary because you don’t know what’s next. And that’s exactly what it felt like when I retired.”
Many elite athletes have been very open about their own mental health struggles, including her former team-mates Phelps and Lochte. For those who make it to the Olympics or the pinnacle of their sport, Franklin says the post-Olympic depression is a “very real thing for athletes”.
Franklin was part of the USA swimming team at the 2012 Olympics which also included Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Natalie Coughlin
She said: “You work so hard to this pinnacle for your entire life, you get there and then you have to come down.
“And that way down is really hard for a lot of people. And so being able to vocalise that, I think is so important.”
But Franklin believes it is not just specific to sport. It also “spills into everyday life” and she says it is not only athletes who face similar struggles.
Speaking from her home in Nashville, she says: “If we can talk about our experiences, what we’ve been through and how we got through them, even though they’re not the same experiences as other people, there’s still a way to relate and a way to gain insight and knowledge and most importantly, know that you’re not alone in how you’re feeling.”
‘Rio was a tonne of pressure and expectation’
Becoming the most successful swimmer in London 2012 came with new challenges and the expectation to perform was much greater. And she knew it.
Franklin says: “I wasn’t the 17-year-old, I was the 21-year-old who had done this before and done it well. So now the expectation was that I was going to come back and be even better. And I had set that bar quite high for myself in 2012.”
Franklin failed to progress beyond the semi-finals of her individual events at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Swimmer Missy Franklin poses for photos at the 2016 Team USA Media Summit in 2016 in California
Speaking about that period, she adds: “It was a tonne of pressure and expectation and I think that really impacted my mental health because, for the first time, I stopped swimming out of love and joy for the sport and started swimming out of fear of disappointing people.”
She says not performing how she wanted in 2016 was detrimental to her “self-worth and identity”.
“I had a tonne of work to do after that competition. And I worked with a therapist and sports psychologists and ultimately was just trying to find myself again and go back to finding that little girl who first fell in love with the water.”
‘I adore goofy, joyful Adam Peaty’
Another swimmer who has talked about their recent mental health struggles is Adam Peaty. The British swimmer won two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, to add to his gold from Rio.
But he withdrew from elite swimming last year citing mental health issues and later admitted he had been on a “self-destructive spiral”.
Franklin and Peaty’s careers overlapped at the Olympics eight years ago and she has fond memories of their time together.
Adam Peaty earned his first gold medal in the 100m breaststroke at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio
“I just adore Adam … talk about joy! He is just one of the goofiest, just joyful people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting and one of the most talented swimmers the sport has ever seen,” Franklin says.
“I’m so grateful to have had the memories that I share with Adam and I remember spending time with him in Rio after the Olympics was done.
“His smile is infectious and it’s impossible to not feel good when you’re around him and he’s smiling. I’m so grateful for his openness and his vulnerability and what he’s been through and his term as far as advice.
“It’s so hard because everyone is different. But I think one of the biggest pieces is understanding that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s one of the most courageous things that you can do.
Franklin advises being “proactive and reaching out and talking to someone about it” when you notice your mental health starting to decline.
“Whether it’s a friend or a loved one or a professional, a therapist or a psychologist, I think we’re not meant to go through this life alone.”
‘My daughter is my whole world’
Franklin wrote an open letter on ESPN announcing her retirement in 2018.
Despite the medals, titles and accolades there was something Franklin wanted. “I’m ready to become a wife and, one day, a mother.” She also added she was ready “for the rest of her life”.
She married to Hayes Johnson, who also has a swimming background, in 2019. She gave birth to their first child in 2021.
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When speaking about her daughter Sarah Caitlin Johnson, Franklin said: “She’s my whole world and I don’t think there’s any greater responsibility than being her mum and raising her. She’s my greatest accomplishment and my greatest joy, without a doubt.”
“I think it’s really special that I have all of those amazing experiences that I can talk to her about one day and that I can pass down what I’ve learned from all of them for her,” she adds.
Can sportswomen be elite athletes and have a family at the same time? Franklin’s advice to any sportswoman is “do what’s best for you”.
“We’re all individual, we’re all unique and we have women that are showing us that it’s possible to do it each and every way. Listen to yourself, know what your priorities are and simply just do what’s best and what feels right for you.”
Meeting Mark Spitz in an elevator in Kuala Lumpur
One of Franklin’s finest achievements came 10 years ago when she was the youngest winner of the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award. Only 18 when she picked up the award, she beat the previous record of Serena Williams, who won aged 21.
The youngest winner of the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Missy Franklin speaks on stage in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Reflecting on the achievement, she says: “Oh my gosh, I was so proud! I remember that event like it was yesterday.
“I remember meeting (nine-time Olympic swimming champion) Mark Spitz in the elevator at this hotel in Kuala Lumpur and it was just an amazing event. I couldn’t believe that I was nominated, I couldn’t believe that I actually won the award and I definitely could not have anticipated the impact that Laureus was going to have on my life. That award meant so much to me.
“But then learning what Laureus was and what we stand for and the good that we do in the world through sport, I just knew that it was something that I wanted to be a part of as long as I possibly could. And thankfully they agreed to take me on and wanted my involvement as well.”
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She will be watching the 25th Annual Laureus Sports Awards which take place in Madrid on April 22. Nominees for Sportswomen of the Year include Sha’Carri Richardson, Shericka Jackson, Aitana Bonmati, Faith Kipyegon, Mikaela Shiffrin and Iga Swiatek.
Erling Haaland, Noah Lyles, Novak Djokovic, Lionel Messi, Mondo Duplantis and Max Verstappen are just some of the big names nominated for Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.
Franklin also became the youngest member of the Laureus World Sports Academy in 2019. She is also a vice-chair of its Sport for Good Foundation.
Missy Franklin with her husband Hayes Johnson at the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019
As part of her role, she is a key part of board meetings, influences the decision-making process that decides which initiatives they support, and communicates with other team members to deliver successful programmes.
She adds: “It is such an honour and getting to work alongside such incredible athletes and members of this organisation. It means everything to me.”
But it is the love of getting out and seeing the work “on the ground” remains her favourite part.
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“I’m always trying to find an opportunity to do that and be involved with the projects. Because getting to go and see the kids is always easily just the best thing ever and seeing the work that we’re doing on the ground and how much it’s impacting these children’s lives.
She remembers the message of Nelson Mandela’s powerful words in 2000.
“Sport has the power to change the world.”