A familiar face won't be swimming for Team USA this summer in Tokyo. Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin retired two years ago at age 23.She said she won't be pulling a Michael Phelps to come out of retirement for another shot at gold. "Love Michael to death, but I think I got the question of 'Will you be coming back?' about a million times," she said. "And I just wanted to call, and was like, 'really you had to do this to us?'"Franklin retired in 2018 as a five-time Olympic gold medalist and an 11-time world champ, whose body felt broken by shoulder injuries. "I physically could not continue with the sport, so that was something that made it a lot easier for me to know that that decision was permanent," she said. "Because I just knew that my body, unfortunately, couldn't continue doing it as much as my heart and my head wanted to."Her shoulder is so bad that she rarely gets into a pool and never does laps for more than 20 minutes. Having the mental resilience to handle that reality is something she learned as an Olympian. This year, she's mentoring Team USA's newest stars on how to stay tough. "We really worked a lot with those teams to give them tips, advice what they can do at home and mentally," she said. "Most importantly, how to deal with everything that was going on."These days, Franklin continues working with her swim sponsors and USA Swimming as an ambassador, encouraging parents to get their kids water-safe.She'll be practicing what she preaches as her first baby is due this summer. "My husband and I are so beyond thrilled. We absolutely cannot wait," she said.
A familiar face won't be swimming for Team USA this summer in Tokyo. Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin retired two years ago at age 23.
She said she won't be pulling a Michael Phelps to come out of retirement for another shot at gold.
"Love Michael to death, but I think I got the question of 'Will you be coming back?' about a million times," she said. "And I just wanted to call, and was like, 'really you had to do this to us?'"
Franklin retired in 2018 as a five-time Olympic gold medalist and an 11-time world champ, whose body felt broken by shoulder injuries.
"I physically could not continue with the sport, so that was something that made it a lot easier for me to know that that decision was permanent," she said. "Because I just knew that my body, unfortunately, couldn't continue doing it as much as my heart and my head wanted to."
Her shoulder is so bad that she rarely gets into a pool and never does laps for more than 20 minutes. Having the mental resilience to handle that reality is something she learned as an Olympian. This year, she's mentoring Team USA's newest stars on how to stay tough.
"We really worked a lot with those teams to give them tips, advice what they can do at home and mentally," she said. "Most importantly, how to deal with everything that was going on."
These days, Franklin continues working with her swim sponsors and USA Swimming as an ambassador, encouraging parents to get their kids water-safe.
She'll be practicing what she preaches as her first baby is due this summer.
"My husband and I are so beyond thrilled. We absolutely cannot wait," she said.
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