USA’s Nathan Adrian prepares to compete in the Men’s 100m Freestyle Semifinal during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 9, 2016. She finally got in the pool Monday only to endure another disappointment in the most unsettling year of her career.
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Asked by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ann Killion about her Rio Games, Franklin answered, “right now, it sucks”. The prolific swimmer was awarded a gold medal on Wednesday for her participation in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
Franklin missed the final in the individual 200m freestyle and missed the final in the 200m backstroke, swimming almost six seconds off her world record.
Franklin finished seventh in her heat and 14th overall.
Franklin struggled mightily at the US trials, qualifying for the team in only two individual events and one relay – a far cry from her seven-event program at the London Games.
“I have some things in my head that I can work on for tomorrow night, and hopefully I can put it all together”, Ledecky said on NBC of her second-place finish.
“Being totally honest, I think I’m doing better because it’s nearly over”, Franklin said as her Olympic experience winds down with a whimper.
“I’m disappointed not to be able to represent my country tomorrow”.
Ledecky is the youngest competitor on the US swim team but one of the most dominant swimmers in the pool. Not bad. But not good enough to make the cut, and far from the 1:55.82 Franklin swam when racing as an individual in the 200 meters at the 2012 Games.
Franklin’s time was almost a half-second slower than her prelim time on Monday afternoon. “For whatever reason, it’s just not happening at this meet”.
“Just trying to hold it together”, she said. He’s going to transform me and my life into doing something from all of this. “I think if I go out there and do my best, my whole team is going to know that”. So what did she discover about herself while doing a belly flop in the Olympic pool with the whole world watching in disbelief?
“I feel like every year at the big championship meets, my stroke just feels as good as it ever has”, she said.
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“Right now, it sucks”, Franklin said. I love seeing that drive. “I’ve got so much left to give to this sport, to my fans, to the people who’ve been supporting me”. “I don’t think I would have ever come to that realization without something like this”.
