Missy Franklin: Ready to take over from Michael Phelps as the "Next Great Superstar of the swimming pool"

In her Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics at age 17, Missy Franklin won a total of five medals, four of which were gold. She swept the women’s backstroke events, winning gold in both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke. Franklin’s successes have earned her Swimming World’s World Swimmer of the Year and the American Swimmer of the Year award in 2012 as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2011 and 2012. In total, she has won twenty-two medals in international competition: fourteen gold, five silver, and three bronze, spanning the 2012 Summer Olympics, the FINA World Championships and the short course FINA World Championships.
At only 17, the possibilities are certainly intriguing for how much Franklin could accomplish. While it is hard to compare any swimmer to Phelps, who increased his all-time records to 22 overall medals, Franklin has the potential to become the most decorated female swimmer in Olympic history.

Phelps was even younger than Franklin in his first Olympic Games, as he competed in the 2000 Games in Sydney at only 15 years old. Phelps, however, did not win his first medal until four years later, when he won six golds and eight overall medals at the 2004 Athens Games.

Expecting Franklin to match Phelps’ Athens achievements at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro would be expecting too much, but like Phelps, she could likely compete in at least three more Games before her career comes to an end. Also like him, she’s capable of competing in many events each time.Franklin already has a three-gold and four-medal lead on Phelps through her first Olympics, and those counts could potentially rise to four and five respectively on Saturday.

Even if Phelps’ record ends up being out of reach, the women’s record for most overall swimming medals is well within her reach. The current record is 12 overall medals, held in a three-way tie by three U.S. swimming legends: Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin. With four medals in one Olympics and maybe three Olympics to go, Franklin could surpass that trio.