FRANKLIN’S ADVICE GOOD AS GOLD

BY MARTY MACIASZEK NSGA DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS

Missy Franklin wasn’t spoiled by winning four Olympic swimming gold medals in 2012. Apparently others were for a return Olympic trip that wasn’t quite as sweet in 2016 for Franklin. She came home with another gold medal and a lot of mental baggage from trying to meet great expectations.

It’s all part of an eventful trip that Franklin shared in an energetic and impactful Q&A with Cap America’s Grace Schettler in Tuesday’s closing session, “Relentless Spirit: Staying Afloat Through Life’s Ups and Downs,” at the Management Conference & Team Dealer Summit in Nashville.

“The ultimate goal is sports gave me a platform to make a difference, to change, to inspire and to motivate,” Franklin said. “In general I’m a very vulnerable person. I’m so thankful of the journey because the importance of mental health is such a prominent issue. It’s something we can all relate to and we’ve all had different journeys the last three years.

“(The Olympics in) 2012 was a dream. I was very naive and just genuinely having fun. All of a sudden there was a shift and people were expecting more and I expected more of myself. That was a pretty high bar to set. I started listening to outside expectations and for the first time I started swimming out of fear of disappointing people. Now it was my actual job – swimming professionally with sponsor deals and contracts riding on my performance.”

Franklin struggled to find the balance, albeit in a different way, many people are also seeking. She had so many aspects of her life to constantly juggle and unrealistic expectations to try and meet. Someone from the media asked her, “Where’s the real Missy?”

It all boiled over for Franklin at a place she dreamed of and worked so hard to reach.

“When I came to Rio I lost it all. It was 110 percent all about swimming and that’s where my mental health took a nosedive,” Franklin said. “I was feeling expectations from the outside world and I go to Rio depressed, anxious and struggling with an eating disorder. I was listening to those things for the first time.

“I called my parents the day before crying harder than I ever have before. My dad said over and over, ‘Honey it’s just a swim meet. It’s just a swim meet.’ I did the best I could with winning one gold medal.”

An Olympic career with five gold medals wasn’t bad considering her family didn’t have a swimming background. Franklin’s mom never learned how to swim but made sure Missy got a head start in the water when she was 6 months old.

“Not learning how to swim is usually passed down generationally,” Franklin said. “I’m happy my mom defied that statistic.”

Franklin said her parents were her biggest supporters and best friends. They put her in different sports but it was evident there was something special when she hit the pool.

She qualified for her first Olympic trials at age 12 in 2008 and suddenly found herself on the same pool deck as Olympic legends Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin. Franklin wasn’t expecting to qualify for the team and on the drive back to Denver from Omaha, Nebraska she told her parents she wanted to get to London in 2012.

“My parents looked at me and said, ‘Great, what can we do to help,’” Franklin said. “Pretty much everything I accomplished is because of them. Winning my first gold medal – that was the moment for me. I wanted to put the medal on them because that’s who it deserved to go to.

“When you set a lofty goal for yourself, whether it’s swimming or sales and marketing, it’s incredible. Going to London and qualifying for my first Olympics as a junior in high school at 17 in seven events, I was very intimidated by that. (Legendary Jamaican sprinter) Usain Bolt came in the dining area and got a standing ovation. What I love so much about the Olympics is it brings people together.”

But those upbeat feelings didn’t last long even in her home state of Colorado. She was a junior in high school during the 2012 Games and planned to come back for her fourth and final year for her school’s swim team. Not everyone was thrilled.

“That was the first time I got to experience negativity and disdain of people and people thought I wasn’t going to give someone else a chance,” she said. “I would never do it to take anything away from anyone. I was doing it to give to my team. That was my first experience and lesson that you can’t please everyone all the time.

“I wanted to experience that season with my friends and I got a lot of people lashing back for my decision. We didn’t even win – we got second. But to have that time together and go to Red Robin after is why I did it.”

And then she had to deal with the heartbreaking reality of retiring from swimming at 23. She wanted to go to three or four Olympics and become the most decorated female athlete of all time. But a balky shoulder that would have required another surgery didn’t cooperate.

Now, Franklin is looking forward to teaming with her husband and former swimmer Hayes Johnson on raising their daughter Sarah Caitlin, who turns 2 in August.

Franklin feels blessed that her father Dick, who played in the Canadian Football League, will also be able to spend time with them after receiving a kidney transplant last year thanks to a match with two-time 1992 Olympic gold medal swimmer Crissy Perham.

Missy Franklin believes her journey helped her to handle all these challenges. She plans to make sure her daughter understands the good and bad is part of life.

“The last thing we want to do is to raise her (daughter) to think she has to be perfect,” Franklin said. “We’ll raise her to be a human and to fail beautifully and let her know the tools she has from me and my husband and her friends.

“As a culture we need to show more of our failures and mistakes and let people know this is going to happen. You’re going to fail but this doesn’t define you. The year after Rio was so hard. I was constantly asking myself the ‘why’ question. Before that I had only known success in the pool, but as hard as it was, I wouldn’t change a thing about it.”