Franklin, Missy (1995-…), a champion American swimmer , won five medals at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games . She won gold medals in the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke and as a member of the American 4×200-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays. She won her fifth medal, a bronze, as part of the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay. Franklin set a world record in the 200-meter backstroke. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal as a member of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
After the 2012 season, Franklin was named World Swimmer of the Year and American Swimmer of the Year among women athletes by Swimming World Magazine. She also won the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Female Swimmer of the Year Award in 2011 and 2012. FINA is the governing body for international swimming. Franklin won the 2012 James E. Sullivan Award, which honors the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States. In 2013, she won a women’s record six gold medals for the U.S. team at the FINA World Championships.
Melissa Jeannette Franklin was born on May 10, 1995, in Pasadena, California. Both of Franklin’s parents are Canadian, and she holds dual American and Canadian citizenship. Franklin grew up in Centennial, Colorado, and began swimming there at the age of six months. She was competing on a summer swim team by the time she was five years old. Franklin attended the University of California at Berkeley for two years before leaving in 2015 to devote herself to swimming full-time as a professional. Missy and her parents, D. A. Franklin and Dick Franklin, worked together on her autobiography, Relentless Spirit (2017). Franklin announced her retirement from competitive swimming in 2018.
