Melissa Jeanette "Missy" Franklin (born May 10, 1995) is an American competition swimmer and four-time Olympic gold medalist. She currently holds the world record in the 200-meter backstroke (short course and long course) and the American record in both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke (long course). As a member of the U.S. National Team, she also holds the world record in the 4×100-meter medley relay (short course and long course).

In her Olympic debut at the 2012 Summer Olympics at age 17, 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 success 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 twelve medals in international competition: seven gold, three silver, and two bronze spanning the 2012 Summer Olympics, the FINA World Championships and the short course FINA World Championships.

Personal life
Franklin was born in Pasadena, California in 1995, the daughter of Dick and D. A. Franklin. She resides in Centennial, Colorado and began swimming there at the age of five at the urging of her mother. She is enrolled attends Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado and will graduate in 2013.

Both of Franklin's parents are Canadian and Franklin has dual citizenship. Her father, Dick, was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. A former All-Canadian football player for Saint Mary's Universityin Halifax, Nova Scotia, he played briefly for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League as an offensive lineman. After an injury ended his football career, he returned to Halifax to pursue an MBA degree at Dalhousie University, where he met his future wife, a medical student. While working for 7-Up in Ontario, Dick was transferred to the United States. Ultimately the family settled in Denver, Colorado, where Dick had a senior position with Coors Brewing Company. Franklin's mother suggested that her daughter consider competing for Canada to ease the pressure of qualifying for the U.S. National Team due to the competitive depth of American swimmers. Franklin, however, chose to represent the United States, citing her patriotism for her homeland.

Franklin is 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) tall and has women's size 13 feet: "We call them built-in flippers," says her father. She has been coached by Todd Schmitz from the Colorado Stars club team since she was 7 years old. Franklin says her favorite athlete is Natalie Coughlin.

She continues to refuse prize money and endorsements so she can maintain her amateur status in college. She has accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she will swim for coach Teri McKeever's California Golden Bears women's swimming team starting in the 2013–14 academic year. Franklin presently plans to turn professional after the 2015 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

Franklin appeared in a March 2013 episode of Pretty Little Liars as herself.
Franklin played basketball, tennis, gymnastics, soccer, skating and volleyball before trying swimming.

Swimming career
Early career
At the age of 13, Franklin competed at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, but did not qualify to swim in any events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Her best result was 37th place in the 100-meter freestyle.

2010
At the 2010 National Championships, Franklin competed in six individual events, and qualified to swim at the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships by finishing second in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke.At the 2010 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, Franklin finished fourth in the 100-meter backstroke and did not make the A final for the 50 and 200-meter backstroke. Franklin earned the first international medals of her career at the 2010 FINA Short Course World Championships in Dubai. In the 200-meter backstroke, Franklin finished in second place behind French swimmer Alexianne Castel. Franklin also earned a silver medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay for her contribution in the heats. For her performance in 2010, she won the Breakout Performer of the Year Award at the seventh annual Golden Goggle Awards.

2011 
2011 World Championships
See also: Swimming at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships
In her first long course world championship meet at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, Franklin won a total of five medals, three gold, one silver, and one bronze. In her first event, the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, Franklin won a silver medal with Natalie Coughlin, Jessica Hardy and Dana Vollmer in a time of 3:34.47. Swimming the second leg, Franklin had a split of 52.99, the second-best among all participants. Franklin won her first individual medal, a bronze, in the 50-meter backstroke, finishing behind Russian Anastasia Zuyeva and Japanese Aya Terakawa. Shortly after the 50-meter backstroke final, Franklin competed in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with Dagny Knutson,Katie Hoff and Allison Schmitt and won gold ahead of Australia and China in a time of 7:46.14. Franklin's lead-off time of 1:55.06 was faster than the winning time of Italian Federica Pellegrini in the individual 200-meter freestyle final (1:55.58). After setting the national record in the semi-finals of the 200-meter backstroke (2:05.90), Franklin dominated the field in the final with a time of 2:05.10, breaking her own national record and winning gold. This was Franklin's first individual world title, and her time in the final was the third-fastest effort of all time. Shortly after the 200-meter backstroke final, Franklin competed in the 4×100-meter medley relay with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer and won gold with a time of 3:52.36, over three seconds ahead of second-place finisher China. Swimming the freestyle leg, Franklin had a split of 52.79, the fastest in the field. The final time of 3:52.36 for the medley relay was the second-fastest effort of all time, just behind the Chinese-owned world record of 3:52.19. For her performance at these championships, she won the Female Athlete of the Year, Female Race of the Year (200-meter backstroke), and the Relay Performance of the Year (4×100-meter medley relay) Award at the eighth annual Golden Goggle Awards. She was also named the best female swimmer for 2011 by FINA Aquatics World Magazine.

2011 National Championships 
Three days after the 2011 World Aquatics Championships ended in Shanghai on July 30, Franklin traveled to Palo Alto, California to compete at the 2011 National Championships, which began on August 2. At these championships, Franklin competed in four individual events, and the 4×100 and 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Franklin won the first national titles of her career in the 100-meter backstroke and freestyle. She also placed fourth in the 200-meter individual medley and twelfth in the 50-meter freestyle.

First world records
Towards the end of 2011 in October, at the 2011 FINA Swimming World Cup, Franklin set the first world record of her career in the 200-meter backstroke (short course), bettering the previous record of 2:00.18 held by Shiho Sakai with a time of 2:00.03. In breaking the record, Franklin became the first female to break an individual world record since the high-tech bodysuits were banned in January 2010. Franklin's second world record came at the 2011 Duel in the Pool in December. In the 4×100-meter medley relay, Franklin combined with Natalie Coughlin, Rebecca Soni, and Dana Vollmer to break the previous American-owned world record in a time of 3:45.56, bettering the previous record of 3:47.97. Swimming the freestyle leg, Franklin had a split of 51.32.

Trials
At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, Franklin qualified to swim in four individual events at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In her first event, the 100-meter backstroke, Franklin won the final with a time of 58.85, breaking Natalie Coughlin's American record of 58.94 seconds. In her second event, the 200-meter freestyle, Franklin placed second behind Allison Schmitt by over two seconds with a time of 1:56.79. In her third individual event, Franklin finished second in the 100-meter freestyle behind Jessica Hardy with a time of 54.15. Her second-place finish came less than half an hour after swimming in the 200-meter backstroke semi-finals, where she finished first overall with a time of 2:07.91. In the 200-meter backstroke final, her fourth individual event, Franklin finished first with a time of 2:06.12.

Olympics 
On the first day of the swimming competition at the 2012 Olympics in London, Franklin won a bronze medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay with Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal, and Allison Schmitt, with the U.S. team finishing behind Australia and the Netherlands. Swimming the lead-off leg, Franklin had a personal best of 53.52 seconds and the team finished with a total time of 3:34.24, an American record. Franklin's first leg in the relay was also the fastest lead-off of the field. In her first individual event on the third day of the swimming competition, the 100-meter backstroke, Franklin won the gold medal with a time of 58.33 seconds, beating her own national record. Her win in the backstroke came less than fifteen minutes after completing the 200-meter freestyle semifinals, where she qualified for the final. The following day, Franklin competed in the 200-meter freestyle and placed fourth in the final with a time of 1:55.82, one one-hundredth of a second behind third-place finisher Bronte Barratt.

A day after the 200-meter freestyle, Franklin won her third medal of the meet, a gold, in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay with Dana Vollmer, Shannon Vreeland and Allison Schmitt. Swimming the lead-off leg, Franklin posted a time of 1:55.96 and the U.S. team finished with a time of 7:42.92, a new American record. A day after completing the relay, Franklin competed in her third individual event, 100-meter freestyle. In the final, Franklin placed fifth with a time of 53.64 seconds. Franklin was able to bounce back from that performance, and in her fourth and last individual event held the following day, the 200-meter backstroke, Franklin won her second individual gold of the Olympics with a world record time of 2:04.06, bettering Kirsty Coventry's record of 2:04.81. In winning the 200-meter backstroke, Franklin also became the first American female to win the event at the Olympics since Melissa Belote did in 1972, forty years earlier. In her final event, the 4×100-meter medley relay, Franklin won gold withRebecca Soni, Dana Vollmer and Allison Schmitt. Swimming the backstroke leg, Franklin recorded a time of 58.50 seconds, and the U.S. team went on to set the world record with a time of 3:52.05, besting the Chinese-owned record of 3:52.19 set in 2009.

At year's end, Franklin was named the World Swimmer of the Year and American Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine. She was also named the best female swimmer for 2012 by FINA Aquatics World Magazine.