Franklin’s Rio Olympics aren’t over, not with the 200-meter backstroke looming Thursday, another event in which she won gold in London (in a world record time of 2:04.06).
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As a bubbly, 17-year-old high schooler from Colorado, Franklin won four golds and a bronze at London, where she competed in seven events.
In Rio, Franklin’s last-place finish in the 200 freestyle semi-final and failure to qualify for the final with only the 13th-fastest time of the 16 swimmers left her teary-eyed and beaten. She would back it up again at the 2013 world championships, as she hauled in a record six gold medals. “Just disappointed that I let the team down”.
Brazil’s Thiago Perreira finished with the third-best time in the semifinal heats, with Japan’s Kosuke Hagino coming in fourth among the eight qualifiers for the final. Her time (1:57.56) was a half-second slower than her preliminary heat swim earlier in the day.
“I wish I could tell you”, Franklin said when asked what went wrong. Franklin was inconsistent at the Olympic trials in Omaha last month, failing to qualify for the US team in the 100 backstroke, the event in which she won her first gold in London.
Franklin set records on her way to four golds and a bronze medal at her first Games.
Franklin just hopes she gets the chance to be part of the 4×200 free relay.
She’s endured a mystifying loss of form since turning pro a year ago, struggling just to qualify for two individual events and a relay at the USA trials. Her coaches are, too, though they understand it’s been a challenging four-year stretch for the now 21-year-old. “There is no one that is a better therapist than your mom”, she said.
Now, 19-year-old teammate Katie Ledecky is the US freestyle star. She’ll be joined by Abby Weitzel, who was eighth among qualifiers for the final. She failed to qualify for the 100 back at the USA trials and didn’t defend her gold from London. “I need to keep my head up and I need to keep fighting, and that’s what I’m going to do”.
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Additionally, you can catch up on four years of world championships, World Cup matches, and global competitions by Team USA at NBC Olympics and look forward to upcoming competitions with the official Rio 2016 Olympic schedule from NBC.
