Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year winner Missy
Franklin poses with her trophy at the 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards at the
Istana Budaya Theatre on March 26, 2014 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
SANTA
CLARA, Calif. — There was a point in time recently where Missy Franklin was
kicking back, relaxing by the pool instead of swimming in it. That didn’t last
long. The ever-busy Olympic gold medalist swimmer, who just finished her
freshman year at the University of California, Berkeley, has the usual full
plate this summer, and not all of it revolves around swimming. Take cooking,
for instance. She just moved into her first apartment with her college dorm
roommate, and they’re learning to fend for themselves. “We’ve been
experimenting with salmon a lot,” Franklin said at the George F. Haines
International Swimming Center, where she was competing in the Arena Grand Prix
at Santa Clara. “It’s pretty easy to cook, not too challenging, so we’ve been
trying to shake it up a little bit. It was grilled cheese for a while!” Well,
there are learning curves big and small. Franklin wrapped up the four-day meet
Sunday by winning the 100-meter backstroke in 1 minute, 0.99 seconds. She also
won the 200 freestyle at the event in 1:56.96 — a time that shocked her (in a
good way) — but she finished third in the 200 backstroke, an event in which she
set the world record at the London 2012 Olympic Games, and was second in the
100 free. That’s normal stuff for an elite athlete sharpening her skills
heading into the U.S. championships and the Pan Pacific championships in
August. The most memorable moment for her was when she committed the faux pas
of clipping the lane line with her hand during the 200 free win Saturday. “That
hasn’t happened for a while,” she said. “I was kind of bummed out, though it
does help keep me in check. I’m not going to do that at nationals.” Right now,
Franklin, still only 19, is soaking it all in, so to speak, adjusting to life
away from home in Colorado and a rigorous course load at a prestigious
university, all while living on her own in Berkeley, balancing a long-distance
relationship with her boyfriend (he’s attending Westmont College in Santa
Barbara) and learning new ways to approach her sport. “If I thought I had
juggling down in high school, I don’t think I knew what I was going to get
myself into in college,” Franklin said. “It’s been wonderful. I love school.
I really enjoy that added pressure of school. For me, getting two really great
hours of studying is just as good as a really great workout. You feel so good
about yourself afterward. Getting a good grade on a test is the same as getting
a good time. So having that challenge of school has been really awesome as well
as hard, really fun. The transition has gone as easily as it could have ever
gone.” One gets the sense Franklin is never overwhelmed. She seems to be
meeting the new experiences of her university life with the same sunny smile
and upbeat personality that helped make her an instant Olympic star — of course
her four gold medals didn’t hurt. “Berkeley’s great — walking down Telegraph
Avenue, having lunch on Sproul Plaza,” she said. “Having that experience, being
a normal college student, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’ve learned so
much about myself.” Just as big a transition has been adjusting to the style
and training techniques of her coach, Teri McKeever. UC Berkeley’s coach for
the last two decades, McKeever was the U.S. Olympic women’s coach in London —
the first woman to head a U.S. Olympic swim team. Franklin didn’t go into
specifics, but said she finds the change energizing, even though she misses her
coach with the Colorado Stars club team, Todd Schmitz, who had trained Franklin
since she was 7. “Everybody knows Teri has her own style,” Franklin said. “It’s
been awesome training under a different coach. … I worked with Todd for 11
years, so I knew that environment and knew what to expect. Coming into an
environment where I had no idea what to expect, and on top of it, it’s Teri, so
even when I think I know what I’m doing, I’m always way off. She always keeps
it new and fresh. “One of my favorite meets was when the Arizonas came to us in
Berkeley. It was such a great meet — the racing was so fast — and the
environment. I think we had 1,200 come to that meet. Our stands were just
filled and our band came and played at the beginning — it was just one of those
wonderful moments where it’s like: ‘This is college swimming, this is what it’s
all about, this is what I’m here for.’” So, about that time she was relaxing by
the pool. That was in Malaysia, of all places, in late March.
She was there to accept the prestigious Laureus Sports Award for Sportswoman of
the Year (Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel was the male winner). “Malaysia
was awesome! It was so fun,” Franklin smiled. “I got a week with my parents,
which is very rare and very special these days. I got to meet some of my inspirations
who I’d never gotten to meet before. I met Mark Spitz in an elevator, which was
so cool. I got to work with some of the local kids down there; I did a swim
clinic, which was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. After that my
parents and I were just at the hotel for three days just relaxing by the pool.”
And then, back to her busy life.
Fonte G. Allen Johnson is a staff
writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Johnson is a freelance contributor
to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc
No comments:
Post a Comment