OMAHA — For the best swimmers in the United States, the road to Rio de Janeiro goes through CenturyLink Center. But where it goes from there is difficult to map. In 2012, Missy Franklin came to the Olympic trials and treated every final she made as a reason to dance, and she gamboled her way to berths in the London Games in four individual events and three relays.
Franklin, 21, is a self-described “people pleaser,” but in the aftermath of her five-Olympic-medal performance in London, she faced the impossible task of trying to satisfy the competing interests vying for her time and attention.