LONDON — I’m not sure Webster’s Dictionary would approve this definition of precocious, but it’s close enough for gold medal work: In the Olympic record book, you will now find the name of 17-year-old swimmer Missy Franklin next to Wilma Rudolph and Tarzan.
“I think the most important part is living in the now,” Franklin said Wednesday, when she and teammates claimed victory in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the Summer Games.
For those of you keeping score at home in Colorado, Franklin already has claimed two golds and a bronze in the pool, giving her as many medals in a single Olympics as was won by track legend Rudolph and Johnny Weissmuller, who traded his athletic fame for a job playing the King of the Jungle in the movies.
But history can wait.
Franklin is too busy dancing to Rihanna.
It might surprise you to hear the hottest discotheque in London is now backstage at the Aquatics Centre. Oh, the room doesn’t look like much. The dance floor is bordered by massage tables.
Before jumping in the pool for Olympic competition, however, Franklin and teammate Allison Schmitt shake off pre-race nerves by shaking their booty. They are having the time of their young lives. The soundtrack to a night when the young women on the United States relay team set an Olympic record was supplied by Rihanna.
“We always dance,” Franklin said. “Our whole team is really big on dancing.”
Franklin and Schmitt dance without a hint of inhibition, even though backstage at the Oly pool is a wide-open room shared with swimmers from countries around the world.
“I’m pretty sure other teams look at us like they’re crazy,” U.S. swim coach Todd Schmitz recently told me.
There’s a method to this madness, though. Although the sport can be a lonely endeavor of endless hours staring through goggles at the bottom of the pool, a red, white and blue spirit of camaraderie is what has allowed American female swimmers to cause the most frequently heard song at the Olympic pool to be “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“For the women, I think the synergy of the team is huge,” U.S. swim coach Teri McKeever said. “It’s huge because women are motivated by relationships and belonging and helping each other. I’m not saying men aren’t. But, for women, that’s a primary motivator and a big intangible.”
Teamwork was essential to Franklin grabbing a medal for the third time in four events at the world’s toughest meet. The rising senior at Regis Jesuit High School swam fast on the relay, but less than her absolute best.
As the leadoff swimmer for Team USA in Lane 5, Franklin was matched against Australia’s Bronte Barratt, who edged her by a hundredth of a second for third place in the individual 200 free 24 hours earlier. It happened again. Although Franklin went out fast, her time of 1 minute, 55.96 seconds was not quick enough to stay even with Barratt to the end of the opening leg.
So as Schmitt rescued a relay squad that also included Dana Vollmer and Shannon Vreeland with an anchor leg that brought the hammer down on Australia, want the takeaway from Franklin’s smile? An Olympic program of seven events so difficult that no American has ever attempted it until Franklin would be impossible without help from friends on the team.
“I hope what I’m doing as a female coach is allowing them to be women,” McKeever said. “You can be a female, you can be competitive, you can care about your teammate, you can make silly videos, you can be dancing backstage. Then there’s a time to get down to business. And they’re doing that.”
Business is booming.
“The best thing is to bring home gold for the U.S.,” Schmitt said. If she is the CFO of precious metal acquisition, then Franklin is the CEO. Their every move has been perfectly choreographed, since being among instigators of the “Call Me Maybe” lip-sync video that has attracted nearly 4 millions hits on Youtube.
Guess only one critical question remains: Are Franklin and Schmitt better swimmers or dancers?
“Oh … well … they,” said McKeever, stammering in the name of diplomacy. “They’ve got some moves.”
Dance like nobody’s watching. Swim like nobody’s business.
It’s pure gold.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053, mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla
