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Sunday 5 August 2012

America's Missy Franklin storms to backstroke victory in the Aquatics Centre at Games



SHE MAY NOT BE REQUIRING THE RECORD BOOKS TO BE RE-WRITTEN AS FREQUENTLY AS THE MAN WITH WHOM SHE WAS SO OFTEN COMPARED IN THE BUILD-UP TO THESE CHAMPIONSHIPS, BUT MISSY FRANKLIN, ALREADY DUBBED BY THE US MEDIA AS THE FEMALE MICHAEL PHELPS, LAST NIGHT SUGGESTED HER NAME MIGHT WELL BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH THE POOL HERE IN LONDON.

Missy Franklin - London 2012 Olympics, America's Missy Franklin storms to backstroke victory in th Aquatics Centre at Games
Waving the stars and stripes: Missy Franklin is America's latest favourite athletePhoto: AP

The young American won her second medal of these Games, steaming to victory in the 100 metres backstroke in an astonishing 58.33 seconds.

It was no straight-forward victory. Just 10 minutes before she entered the pool for the backstroke appointment, Franklin was obliged to swim in the semi-final of the 200m freestyle. As she prepared to dive, her massive size 13 paddles of feet just about fitting on to the start platform, dozens of stars and stripes flags were waved in the crowd. Missy is their girl, and gold is the expectation.Alongside her was the Briton Caitlin McClatchy and the Italian Frederica Pellegrini, formidable opponents both. Clearly saving something for later in the evening, Franklin came in fourth, well behind both the Briton and the Italian. It meant she just eased herself into another final in her pursuit of six medals. That is if scraping in eighth qualifies for the term eased.
With no time to step into a dry suit, with barely enough time to trot round the pool in order to make her ceremonial entrance, Franklin was back in action. And this time, she was not simply facing seven other competitors in the 100m backstroke, she was facing down the will of at least 15,000 British supporters rammed into the cheap seats.
Up against her was Gemma Spofforth, the amiable former world record holder at this distance. A suicide counsellor by training, Spofforth has become the de facto agony aunt of the British team, passing most evenings sitting in her room helping with colleagues' boyfriend issues. Her effervescence, plus a back story in which she lost to cancer her mother, who doubled as her coach, was infectious. This was a woman the crowd wanted to do well. When she was introduced before the race, the poolside rocked to chants of “Gemma Gemma”.

 On the other side of Franklin was Emily Seebohm, the German Australian who had stormed the qualification for this event. Seebohm had set an Olympic record in the qualifying heats, with 58.23 seconds, and followed it with 58.39 in the semi-finals, blasting away the field. Franklin has never swum this event that fast. Her times here were 59.37 in qualifying, 59.12 in the semi-finals.Yet this is clearly a woman who has learned the Phelps method of pacing through a competition. With six events - the 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 4 x 100m freestyle relay (in which she gained a bronze), 4 x 200m freestyle relay and 4 x 100m medley - she could not exhaust herself in the qualification. Do just enough to get there is her abiding philosophy. Then we’ll see what happens.

And what happened here was explosive indeed. Her albatross reach enabled her to pull the water past her, while her flipper-like feet propelled her at the speed of a jet ski. At the first turn, Seebohm was still in touch. As was Spofforth. Indeed, as the swimmers approached halfway down the second length, the Briton, who had learned her trade at the University of Florida, appeared to be well in contention. The crowd, sensing that this might be the most unexpected of medals for a Briton, bawled out their encouragement. The noise was magnificent.

But so was Franklin. Just 17, her vast shoulders and powerful legs propelled her forward. Spofforth, just one lane apart, appeared to go into reverse.And Seebohm could not respond. Those qualifying times were completely misleading after all. Franklin touched first, Seebohm just 0.35 behind her, with Aya Terakawa of Japan gaining bronze.
Spofforth, meanwhile, just .87 of a second behind, came in fifth.

And so Franklin’s golden haul is now back on track, after the minor derailment in her first discipline, the relay, which resulted in a bronze.Looking every inch just a 17-year-old kid, she grinned hugely as she stepped on to the podium to receive her gold from Alexander Popov, the great Russian freestyler. Holding her medal up she sang her way shyly through the Star Spangled Banner, hand on her heart, before collapsing in giggles at the end.It was, you suspect, not the last time in these games the Aquatics Centre crowd will witness such a scene during these Games. 

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