Missy Franklin starting new year, new chapter in Georgia

Missy Franklin has gone to the dogs, as in the Georgia Bulldogs.

The five-time Olympic gold medalist has relocated to Athens, Georgia, where she is pursuing a psychology degree and mounting a comeback in the pool.

Starting the new year with a cross-country move from Northern California, where she was attending the University of California in Berkeley, was a huge decision for the 22-year-old from Colorado. Although happy training under Cal men’s coach Dave Durden, Franklin longed for the support her extended family in Georgia could provide and the chance to be around a women’s and men’s team run by one coach.

Finally, she decided, it was time to do what was best for her.

“I really struggled with that for a while because I looked at it from a selfish perspective,” she told The Associated Press by phone on Thursday. “It really isn’t a selfish decision. I started thinking about the road I have ahead of me. I started looking at options, which is really big for me.”

That road includes the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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