Missy Franklin Wins Gold in 100-meter Backstroke at 2012 London Olympics

In her Olympic debut on Monday, 17-year-old Missy Franklin showed the world that she is an Olympic champion as she won the Gold Medal in the women’s 100-meter backstroke. The huge win for Franklin at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London comes on the heels of three gold medals that she won last summer at the world championships in Shanghai.

With several other Olympic favorites for the United States fall short of expectations at these games, Missy Franklin’s win proved that the teenager from Colorado indeed lives up to the hype. Just a short fourteen minutes after a qualifying swim for the finals of the 200-meter freestyle, Franklin went on to not only win the gold in the Olympic 100-meter backstroke, but she also set and an American-record of 58.33 seconds in the process.

As she stood on the medal stand singing along with the national anthem of the United States, Missy Franklin’s eyes welled with tears. Her tears of joy were matched by the tears her father wiped away from his own eyes as he and Missy’s mother looked on proudly from the stands.

“It was absolutely unbelievable. I was trying to sing but I was like crying at the same time. I forgot the words because I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just a huge mess. Seeing that flag being raised was so incredibly unbelievable. I never dreamed it would feel like that. It just sort of — all the things I have gone through passed through my mind. The early-morning wake-ups, the practices, the doubles, all the meets I have been to, all the friends I have made — just everything kind of leading up to that moment, it was so unbelievably worth it.”