Franklin, who was seeded 11th after a preliminary swim of 2 minutes, 9.36 seconds, struggled with her turns and underwater dolphin kick in Thursday night’s semifinal as her distance per stroke deteriorated the final 25 meters. According to head USA women’s coach David Marsh, Franklin then went on to have a very productive training camp.
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Her voice shaky and tears welling in her eyes, Franklin struggled to comprehend what had happened.
In Monday’s heat Franklin, who left Cal after previous year to focus on the Rio Games, finished in 1 minute, 57.56 seconds, slower than her time in the afternoon preliminaries. “I gave it everything I had and it just wasn’t there”.
Missy Franklin was one of the stars of the United States swimming team at the 2012 Summer Games in London, but she has been unable to recapture some of that magic in Rio. Franklin, with a lighter schedule, is out of the spotlight, and waited three days for her first race.
“I hope I still get a chance to be on that 4×200 freestyle relay, that would mean the world to me, and then I have the 200 backstroke”, she said. There was the back injury in 2014, and the tough decision to leave Cal to return her former age-group coach Todd Schmitz to train in the leadup to these games.
Two of the women in the relay final tonight finished behind Franklin at the Olympic Trials where Franklin was second, Smith third and Schmitt fourth.
“Going into a meet, I never, ever set a medal goal”, Franklin said. “But that’s kind of how my year has gone”. “I feel like I have worked as hard as I ever have and it just hasn’t been there”.
“Still on her schedule in Rio is the 200 backstroke, where she is the defending champion”.
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Life’s a beach for Beijing gold medalist and MVP Phil Dalhausser, who will be looking to avenge a loss in the round of 16 at the London Games when his third Games opens today (3:30 p.m.) in Pool C. The second USA women’s tandem of Brooke Sweat and Lauren Fendrick also begin their Rio competition today when they face Poland at 10 a.m. ‘I kept on peeking over because I was getting real exhausted in the end.
