OMAHA — Missy Franklin came to the Olympic Trials sensing it would be a mistake to believe she had to replicate the success that made her the breakout star of 2012 in order for this year’s trials to be a success.
That proved to be prudent thinking. In her final race of the trials Saturday night she qualified for a third event in Rio — the 200-meter backstroke — but the world-record holder did not win. She was runner-up by nearly a full second to the new breakout star, Maya Dirado of Stanford.
Dirado, a 23-year-old en route to her first Olympics who won the 200 and 400 individual medleys earlier in the week, finished in 2:06.90. Franklin was 0.99 of a second behind.
Franklin will compete in three events in Rio — the 200 free, 200 back and 800 free relay — but she did not win a race here and fell well short of qualifying in her other events, the 100 back and 100 free.
“I think coming in, a lot of people thought that in order for me to deem this meet a success, I would have to do the same thing I did in 2012,” Franklin said. “Thatap not what I came in her intending to do. I came in here to be the best of who I am right now, not who I was four years ago. To get two individual spots and a relay spot, I’m so happy with that.”
Franklin said she went out too timidly Saturday because of her poor performance in the 100 back (seventh place), so she’s thinking positive about the 200 back in Rio.
“I think there’s so much room for improvement, just in terms of how I race that, because I think I have so much more left in the tank,” Franklin said. “I got a spot, and thatap all I needed to do.”
Franklin didn’t feel pressure until she got to Omaha, and when it came it surprised her. That, she said, was a good lesson for the future. That’s not the only lesson she took from here.
“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is, itap OK to ask for help,” Franklin said. “Like, I’ve been having trouble sleeping, so I’ve had my mom come over and sleep with me a couple nights. That’s OK. Itap OK for me to ask some of my Cal teammates to come over and just hang out for a bit and get my mind off it.”
Rowdy Gaines, a freestyle gold medalist at the 1984 Summer Games, went further. He recommended Franklin feel free to reveal her disappointments instead of smiling through them with her famous effervescence.
“Itap OK to cry, itap OK to be mad, itap OK to walk out with your head down a little bit,” Gaines said. “Nobody is going to think any less of her if she sheds a tear or two.”
On the eve of the trials, Franklin put her struggles into perspective by saying when she was on top, she formed an image of how she wanted to handle adversity when it came, as it does to all athletes.
“To have God say, ‘All right, here’s what I’m going to throw at you. You said you’re going to handle it one way, letap see if you’re willing to handle it that way,’ and then to feel like I did, in my mind thatap me having already won in so many different ways,” Franklin said.
Janet Evans, who won three gold medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, read those remarks and was impressed.
“I loved that quote,” Evans said. “I went through very similar situations, and the question is: Do you leave it with a bad taste in your mouth, or do you leave it appreciating and respecting everything this sport gives us? I think she has the maturity and the wisdom to look at it in a positive light, and she’s a fighter.
“My heart goes out to her, but I also know she’ll come back stronger. In looking back at my career, sometimes the lowest times were the times I appreciate the most, because itap given me perspective that itap going to be OK. And I think she’s wise enough to understand that.”
