A full-time psychology student staying in a dormitory and doing her own laundry isn’t the way a multiple Olympic and world champion athlete is normally introduced, but then American swimming sensation Missy Franklin is one of a kind. The kind who says that one of her biggest goals in life is to “be a mother”.
Though it’s a big part of her life, swimming, Missy said, “doesn’t define her”. Talking about her life in hostel a few hours before the 15th laureus World Sports Awards, she said, “It’s really a normal experience, it’s the same struggle being away from home, from family, eating dorm food, doing laundry.”
Missy, winner of a staggering four gold at the london Olympics and six at the World Championships in Barcelona last year, is a nominee for Sportswoman of the Year. She has been bestowed with the sobriquet ‘female Phelps’ after her staggering medal winning spree over the past two years but the 18-year-old rather wants to be known as ‘female Missy’ and create her own legacy.
“I’d rather be known as the ‘female Missy’ and have my goals and create my own legacy,” Missy said. She is a one of the nominees alongside tennis superstars like Serena Williams. “I grew up watching Serena playing tennis, it’s unbelievable what these athletes have accomplished, they have done so much. Serena is a great representation of what laureus is all about...Using sport to change the world,” the 18-year-old said of the American tennis great.
Much like tennis, Missy wants her sport also to be recognised across the world. “One of things what Michael (Phelps) did for us was he showed the world how awesome it was. Swimming is important not just as a sport but in terms of safety also and getting people to be water safe. One of my goals as an athlete is to make people aware about water safety, getting them involved in local swimming team,” Missy said.
The simpleton is pursuing majors in psychology from the University of California at Berkley and swimming, she said, has taught her to “flip switches”.
After the high at Barcelona, expectations have risen ahead of 2016 Rio Olympics, but Missy prefers to live in the present. “I live in the present, maybe a couple of months down. After london, it was the nationals, then the Worlds. Sochi (Winter Olympics) is over and that was a huge wake up call that Rio is going to be the next thing. But I want to focus a couple of weeks, couple of months ahead of the event. I am going to train and qualify first.
“The fun thing about swimming is that it’s very unpredictable. In 2008 (Beijing Games) I didn’t qualify but four years later I won medals,” she said. Talking about her daily schedule, sahe said, “I am a full-time student. I normally wake up around 5 and then train for two hours, then I have class followed by training and class again and then homework and repeat it next day.”