Missy Franklin’s longtime coach with the Colorado Stars, Todd Schmitz, shared insights behind the scenes from Team Missy during the Olympic Trials in Omaha and will again at the Rio Olympics in collaboration with Denver Post Olympics writer John Meyer.
OMAHA — We’re both happy to close this chapter. You heard her, she’s not satisfied with the way she swam here but we all know she’s got more in her. That’s the most exciting thing moving forward.
This was a rough week. You find what defines great people when they deal with adversity. Missy’s never dealt with that before. Even at the Pan Pacific Championships in 2014, when she hurt her back, that was a different environment. That wasn’t an Olympic Trials.
For her to rebound after finishing seventh in the 100 back and take one of two individual spots in the 200 free and then go out a couple days later in the 200 back and not swim the race she needed to swim but still get her hand on the wall for second place was good.
This was a challenging six days for her. I think all of us were relieved to finish the meet on a high note, making the team in the 200 back. She’s going to be better in Rio, I’m 100 percent confident of that.
