The 17-year-old girl who shocked and delighted the world at the London 2012 Olympic Games is no more. After winning five Olympic medals – four of them gold – and setting two world records in the British capital, Missy Franklin has grown up.

Now aged 20, the American began a new phase of her career last year, leaving university competition behind and turning pro. And the woman they call ‘the Missile’ has had to learn to live with disappointment. At last year’s world championships she did not win any of her individual events after taking a record six golds two years earlier. It has given her a new steeliness that will be needed in the coming months.

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Her next great challenge is to get through the US Olympic trials (June 26-July 3) and secure her place in the team for Rio, where she hopes to defend her 100m and 200m backstroke titles and help retain the 4 x 200m freestyle and 4 x 100m medley relay crowns. But even for a big name like Franklin, the US trials are anything but straightforward, with about 2,000 swimmers hoping to be the next Olympic heroes. 

“You’ve been working for four years for those eight days, and you only get one chance. The pressure is unbelievable”

Missy Franklin

Check out this video interview Franklin, a Laureus ambassador, recorded at the Laureus Foundation of Goodness in Sri Lanka.

Footage courtesy of Laureus

Missy Franklin: built for success...

6ft 1in tall

Size 13 feet

6ft 4in armspan

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