Missy Franklin exclusive on identity beyond sport: "My biggest fear was disappointing other people"

"How I used to walk into a pool, versus how I walk into a pool now."

So started an Instagram post by Missy Franklin, the first video featuring a confident 17-year-old swimmer waving to the crowd as she strolled to the starting blocks on her Olympic debut at London 2012, where she went on to win four gold medals.

The second video, filmed in July 2025, showed the now 31-year-old mum pushing a buggy poolside at an empty local facility, loaded with all the paraphernalia required on even the simplest of trips with two young children, one of whom is strapped to her chest.

Between those two extremes, the California native learned a number of hard-earned life lessons – not least navigating a loss of identity after being forced to quit elite swimming.

"Retiring from my sport, especially due to injury, not on my own terms, there's so much that comes with that, right?"

Right.

Franklin was speaking exclusively to Olympics.com at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid in April. As a Laureus Academy Member and Vice Chair of the Global Board of Trustees, the American works alongside other iconic sports figures to use the power of sport to help disadvantaged youth around the world.

The former women's 200m backstroke world record holder is also an advocate for the International Olympic Committee's Let's Move campaign. The collaboration with the World Health Organization inspires people worldwide to get active and embrace daily movement, with the 2026 focus centred on overcoming self-doubt and building confidence through movement.

Citing her own experiences, which now form the basis of her post elite-swimming mentorship of young people, Franklin told Olympics.com how she navigated the feelings of loss after being forced to retire aged just 23, and what helped her move onto the next stage of her life's journey.

30min inspiration to move your body - Let's Move!

Missy Franklin on navigating a loss of identity

Following her breakout success in London, the teenage swimming sensation was on course for a lengthy successful career when a chronic shoulder injury forced her retirement in 2018.

By that time, Franklin had secured a number of accolades, including becoming the first woman to claim six titles at a single world championship.

Based on the backstroke specialists' epic achievement in Barcelona in 2013, Franklin became the youngest ever winner of the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award. The 18-year-old broke the record of tennis superstar Serena Williams, who was 21 when she received the tribute.

Yet two years after claiming a fifth Olympic gold, this time at Rio 2016 after swimming in the heats of the women's 4×200m freestyle relay, Franklin was forced to retire.

"I was used to swimming two to four hours a day, going to strength training, and there's no slow wean off of that," said Franklin of the keenly felt absence of a daily routine.

"It's not like when you slowly retire over a period of time. You make the decision and all of a sudden you wake up and you no longer have to do those things. So that was definitely challenging in its own way."

It was the loss of identity, however, that really hit hard for the 11-time world medallist.

"Learning that sport is not your identity but a piece of who you are is critical", said Franklin who initially did not think that was an issue for her, the buoyancy of her early successes masking the creeping tendrils of perceived failure.

"I was becoming disappointed in who I was as a person, not just the practices and the competitions that I was having. So that became a huge red flag as to, 'OK, there's a lot of work to do here because there's not as much separation as I thought there was'."

And so the work began to unravel the embedded pathways, with Franklin emerging the other side with a healthier outlook.

Within months she was mentoring young people and promoting swim lessons, which culminated in a role as the youngest-ever Laureus Academy Member, less than a year after she retired.

"As an elite athlete, as an athlete in general, no matter what level you are, part of you is your sport and what you do," she said.

"When you make mistakes, when you fail, you are not a failure. It's just that attempt was a failure.

"Being able to navigate that so you're not putting so much on who you are as a person, but just what it is that you're trying to accomplish and achieve, that took a while to figure out after I was done."

How Missy Franklin's close circle rallied during her struggles

Franklin's family and friends played a big part in helping her reset.

"I always knew in my heart (what my identity is), but it's easy to get lost when you're at that level, in that stage and you're being told so many different things and you don't want to let people down. My biggest fear was disappointing other people.

"But the people I loved most were able to help me understand that as long as I stayed true to who I was and acted the way that I knew I was capable of they were never going to be disappointed in me, no matter what. Not if I ever won a medal again, or if I stopped swimming that day.

"They were proud of me as a person and not just what I accomplished in the swimming pool."

Missy Franklin on parenthood

It's not just kids around the world that Franklin mentors. She is now implementing the sporting lessons she's learned closer to home.

"I've got a four-year-old and one-year-old that are my entire world, along with my husband," said the Pasadena native, who cites lessons learned in sport as helpful on her journey through motherhood.

"Time management is a big one. Work ethic. I mean, any parent will tell you it's a lot of hard work but it's so worth it when it is your child and you're fostering such an amazing human being.

"Delayed gratification is one of them as well. In swimming, sometimes you're practising day in and day out for years before you go a best time, and in many ways I think that's what parenthood is.

"You spend day in, day out pouring yourself into your child to essentially see who they're going to be in 18 years, in 20 years.

"So it's about understanding that we're doing everything we can right now to raise two really strong kind, intelligent, empathetic young women."

Missy Franklin on her children's sporting prospects

With husband Hayes Johnson a former collegiate swimmer, the pair understand the lessons sport can teach their own cubs.

"We just want our children to experience sports because we know how powerful it is, and especially at a young age, how much there is to learn.

"It's all about them having fun, learning about how to be on a team, teamwork, being a good sports person, learning skills and that feeling of what it's like to put work into something and achieve something and grow."

And if their sporting endeavours extend to more competitive environs in the future?

"I think at some point as parents you have to realise that you can drive them to the practice, you can wake them up, you drop them off on the field, but at the end of the day you can't actually do the practice with them," added Franklin, who said her own drive was intrinsic to her, not from her own parents.

"They are the ones that are responsible for their own success and for their work.

"I think we're really focused on helping them understand that, that their goals are their own and we are here to support them in any way possible.

"But we can't train for them. We can't compete for them. So, if they truly do want it, it's up to them."

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