RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s not easy to win four gold medals at the Olympics, but Missy Franklin sure made it look like it was four years ago. She swam in London as if she didn’t have a care in the world, without a hint of pressure as she lit up the pool deck with her luminous smile en route to becoming the breakout star of Team USA.
One of the things she has learned since then is that pressure can become an anchor. It weighed her down like excess ballast at the Olympic Trials last month in Omaha, where she qualified in only two of her four individual events and didn’t win either, making it unclear what to expect from her at the Rio Games.
“I don’t think my endurance was an issue, or my athleticism,” Franklin said last week. “I felt for the past several months that I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in. I think trials was just a very different experience. I wasn’t really prepared for the emotional aspect of it.
“Coming back from 2012, I felt the pressure a lot more than I ever have before. That was something I really struggled with. To be able to come through that and get my hand on the wall when I needed to, and realize I still have that heart — I still have those guts that I really believe I’ve had my whole career — it gives me a lot of confidence here.”
Her parents saw how that pressure affected her at the trials, and it brought extra weight to bear because her results of the past three years haven’t been as glittering as her astonishing achievements of 2012 and 2013. A year after London she was even more dominant at the world championships, winning six gold medals, but heading into Omaha many wondered what was missing in Missy.
“I think there was a ton of pressure, and the pressure went both ways,” said her mother, DA. “There was pressure with people saying she’s going to do great, can she repeat what she did the last time? And the opposite, people saying she’s done, she’s not even going to make the team. There were expectations to the extremes.”
It didn’t help that when she got to Omaha, she saw other great swimmers fail to make the team for Rio.
“She saw Matt Grevers and Natalie Coughlin and Tyler Clarey and Jessica Hardy and a bunch of teammates of hers from London bite the dust,” said her father, Richard. “That itself was emotionally draining for her.”
Franklin, who grew up in the Denver area, and others say the pressure Americans endure to make the world’s best Olympic swimming team is far greater than what they encounter at the Games. Franklin said she is “extremely confident” she will perform better in Rio than she did in Omaha.
“Trials is just so unique,” Franklin said. “It is, without a doubt, the most pressure-filled situation we will ever compete in. Being at the Olympic Games is so different. We’ve made it on the team; thatap the really hard thing we need to do.”
There’s another role shift for Franklin in Rio. Being a returning Olympian makes her a team leader, even at the tender age of 21.
“Anybody can exult in the good times when everything’s going up, up, up and up,” Richard said. “Mature, experienced people know thatap not sustainable. She’s got the sense of maturity to deal with that. I’ve been pleased with the accolades she’s getting in terms of how she’s handling this situation, retaining the positive, leadership in the team, constant jovialness and smiling, keeping the pressure off the rookies.”
Franklin will begin her Rio program Monday with prelims and semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle. Then comes the 4×200 freestyle relay Wednesday, followed by the 200 backstroke Thursday and Friday. Her confidence is high.
“With a lot of that pressure gone, with a better mental mind-set, knowing I won’t only have all that endurance that I’ve built up but also the heart and guts on top of that, I think thatap a pretty killer combination for me.”
