Eyeworld

5 EW NEWS & OPINION May 2016 Missy "The Missile" Franklin O nly 21 years old, Melissa "Missy" Franklin is gearing up for what she hopes will be her second stint on Team USA's Olympic swim team. The reason "Missy the Missile" began swimming at 5 years old was because her mother was afraid of the water and thus wanted her daughter to get involved with it early on, USA Swimming, the national governing body of the U.S. National Swim Team, stated in its biography of Ms. Franklin. According to the website, she considers her mother the most influential person in her life. Ms. Franklin first tried out for the Olympic team at 13 years old, but failed to qualify for competition beyond the trials. She did, however, make it to London for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. There she won gold in the 100-meter backstroke, the 200-meter backstroke, the 800-meter freestyle relay, and the 400-meter women's medley relay. She also earned a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle relay. Her cache of gold, silver, and bronze medals from the 2011, 2013, and 2015 FINA World Championships tallied together makes this list even larger. She currently holds a world record in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:04.06 and is the American record holder for the 100-meter backstroke at 58.33. She was also part of a 4x100-meter medley relay team that set a record with a time of 3:52.05 and a mixed (male and female) 4x100-meter freestyle relay team that set a record at 3:23.05. For 3 years, Ms. Franklin was ranked No. 1 in the world for the 200-meter backstroke. At 6'2" with size 13 feet, Ms. Franklin is perhaps physically destined to be a top-notch swimmer, but she has worked hard to earn such accolades. According to her bio, she swims up to 6 kilometers a day for up to 4 hours, 6–7 days a week—and that doesn't include dry land exercise. Fans on her Facebook and Twitter profiles hail her as being a great role model, not just because of her long list of accomplishments but because of her character as well. Her USA Swimming bio states that she makes it a point to do some sort of good deed before every swim meet. In addition to using her social fan pages to pump some of her sponsorships, Ms. Franklin lets her personality shine through. There's an Easter snap with her parents, a silly shot of her recovery smoothie safely seat-belted into her passenger side seat because it wouldn't fit in the cup holder, #clickitorticket, and many selfies with her cat. The University of California, Berkeley student swam on the collegiate team for 2 years before returning to her hometown in Colorado to go pro and train for the 2016 Olympics with her long-time coach Todd Schmitz. After the Olympics this year, Swimming World magazine reported that Ms. Franklin will return to the university to continue studying broadcast journalism and train with the Berkeley team, but she will not compete in NCAA events. In addition to supporting the ASCRS Foundation, Ms. Franklin is a USA Swimming Foundation Ambassador. Ms. Franklin will compete in her third Olympic trials beginning in late June in Omaha, Nebraska, hoping to land a spot on Team USA for the second time and head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August. community about global cataract blindness and to link your practice to a great cause, with all proceeds used to provide cataract surgery to those in need," Dr. Chang said. In a video promoting the pro- gram, Ms. Franklin said, "There are 39 million people in the world liv- ing in blindness, and 51% of them are curable. A $25 donation can change the life of 1 person. What these surgeons do is amazing, and I'm excited to be associated with Swim for Sight." "With the Summer Olympics fast approaching, interest in Amer- ica's athletes will be high—and we couldn't ask for a better spokes- person for humanitarian cataract surgery than Missy Franklin," Dr. Chang said. "This is a unique opportunity to raise the profile of ophthalmology and humanitarian eyecare, and I hope all ASCRS mem- bers will join Missy and the ASCRS Foundation in contributing to and advocating for the Swim for Sight campaign." Interested in learning more or becoming a Swim for Sight partner practice? Visit www.ascrsfoundation. org for more information. EW Contact information Bell: dbell@ascrs.org Chang: dceye@earthlink.net

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