On a new episode of Youth Inc., Greg Olsen sat down with one of the most decorated swimmers in Olympic history – Missy Franklin. But this wasn’t just a highlight reel of medals and world records. It was something deeper, a reflection on identity, joy and the long game of youth sports.
Franklin’s career is storybook: six Olympic medals, including four gold and one bronze at the 2012 London Games, where she competed in seven events and swam in 13 of 15 sessions over eight days. At just 17 years old, she became the breakout star of the Olympics. But that moment, as dazzling as it was, only tells part of the story.
What followed — injury, pressure, burnout — revealed just as much about who she is. And in this conversation, Franklin shared the wisdom earned on the other side of all that success: how to nurture passion, what good parenting looks like and why she believes her most powerful message has nothing to do with winning.
This episode is part of a standout season that also features guests like Tom Brady, Ryan Day, Big Cat, Malcolm Gladwell and CJ Stroud.
Watch the full episode here and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss an episode.
A list of the Youth Inc. podcast guests including Tom Brady, Malcolm Gladwell and Dr. Michael Gervais, Ryan Day, CJ Stroud, Barstool Big Cat, and Missy Franklin
The London Spark
Franklin’s 2012 Olympic performance wasn’t just a triumph — it was a cultural moment. Four gold medals. A 17-year-old with an infectious smile who radiated joy on the biggest stage in sports.
“It was an unbelievable experience," she said. "If you could have asked for a dream Olympics, that was what London was for me.”
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But even with that load, she never wavered.
“I wasn’t concerned with medals," she said. "I just felt in my heart that if I went out there and did my best, really special things were going to happen.”
It was no longer about possibility; it became about pursuit.
Passion and the Grind
To swim at Franklin’s level meant living in the water before the sun came up, again after school and sometimes again at night — clocking miles in silence while most kids were still asleep. The grind wasn’t glamorous. It was laps, repetition, soreness and discipline on loop.
And yet, her love for it was real — and rooted in the little things.
“I loved going to practice every day,” she said. “Spending two hours with my best friends, talking on the wall in between intervals … I loved the feeling after hard workouts. That brought me joy.”
It wasn’t just about medals or breaking records — it was about belonging, growth, and what she calls the payoff.
“When I touched my hand to the wall and turned around and saw that time, it was worth it," Franklin said.”
For so many young athletes, that kind of striving — chasing personal bests, enduring the monotony — becomes the very thing that steals their joy. But Franklin framed it differently. She embraced the pursuit itself.
“How cool is that?” she said. “There’s always a way to be better.”
As Olsen put it, it’s the kind of mindset more athletes could benefit from — one rooted in joy, not pressure. Fulfillment, not fear. A love for the process, not just the podium.
Early Signs and Staying True
Franklin made her first Olympic Trial cuts at age 12. By 13, she was racing in the same pool as legends like Natalie Coughlin and Ryan Lochte. That moment lit a fire.
“It was like… I’m here," she said. "I can actually see a pathway where this is my future.”
Even as her talent became impossible to ignore, her family didn’t follow the conventional path. They didn’t relocate to a powerhouse swim club or uproot their lives, something we see more and more in youth sports today.
In fact, they were constantly told to move.
“People would come up to my parents saying, ‘She needs to go to Texas or California. She needs a seasoned coach,'" Franklin said.
But they stayed. In Colorado. With her original coach. And Franklin thrived.
“I was so happy with where I was," she said. "I loved my team. I loved my coach. Why fix something that’s not broken?”
Support Without Pressure
Franklin speaks about her parents with deep admiration — not just for what they did, but for what they didn’t do.
“They never woke me up for practice,” she said. “That was my job.”
Her parents chose to enable her dream, not drive it.
“My mom would have my breakfast ready," Franklin said. "My parka was in the dryer so it’d be warm. My dad was outside scraping snow off the car. All I had to do was show up.”
And she did ... every single time.
“I was intrinsically motivated,” she said. “And they let that work to my advantage.”
That balance — support without pressure, presence without control — became a foundation that carried her through everything that came next.
When Everything Changes
After London, Franklin’s life shifted. She enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and swam for two years while famously turning down lucrative endorsement deals to maintain her amateur status. She turned pro in 2015 after swimming two years at Cal. The endorsements came. So did the expectations.
“Now I was hearing five gold medals," she said. "Six. Can she swim eight events?”
Then, just three months before the 2016 Olympic Trials, she got injured.
Her first race — the 100 backstroke — was the event she had won gold in four years earlier. She didn’t qualify.
“I went back to my hotel room and sobbed for three hours,” she said. “Then I looked at myself and though, you have two choices. You can pack it in… or you can fight.”
She fought. And she made her second Olympic team. But she didn’t make a single individual final in Rio.
Finding Herself Again
Returning home from Rio, Franklin realized something profound: her identity had become wrapped up in her results.
“I had never felt disappointment like that,” she said. “I felt like I had let everyone down.”
She started hearing questions: “Where’s the real Missy?”
For the first time, she had to ask: Who am I without the wins?
And that became a turning point. She decided to be, in her words, an inspiration in disappointment.
“It’s easy to be inspiring when you're winning,” she said. “But what about when things aren’t going your way?”
When she came home, kids in her neighborhood covered her lawn with handwritten notes.
“We’re more proud of you now than we were four years ago,” one of them read.
The Double-Edged Sword of Perfectionism
Franklin’s inner drive brought her far, but at times it also took a toll.
“I was so focused on the things I was doing wrong I started to miss out on the part that brought me joy all along," she said.
She calls it the double-edged sword of perfectionism — a mindset shared by almost every elite athlete.
And when unchecked, it becomes exhausting.
“You're emotionally and physically tired,” she said. “You stop celebrating the little wins. You forget why you started.”
But she learned to recognize those moments. To pause. To find her way back to joy.
So how do we help kids avoid that identity trap?
Franklin’s answer is simple: “Praise the effort, not the outcome.
“It’s everything you did to get to that point that makes you who you are. Not whether you got first or second.”
Black Line Therapy
These days, Franklin still swims. But it’s not about times or medals. Water is her therapy.
“Swimming now is peace. It’s healing. It’s where I go to feel,” she said. “There’s a saying called ‘black line therapy’ — that black line at the bottom of the pool. You’re not on your phone. You’re not watching a show. It’s just you and your thoughts.”
She swims almost daily with her daughters. Her oldest is starting to learn strokes.
“She’s brought so much joy back to the sport for me,” Franklin said.
And even with everything she’s accomplished, Franklin knows what matters most.
“I want to teach my daughters how to fail,” she said. “Not how to avoid it — because that’s not going to happen. But how to learn from it. How to let it make you better.”
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