{"id":17856,"date":"2018-12-19T18:14:08","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T02:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/5-time-gold-medalist-missy-franklin-retires-from-swimming\/"},"modified":"2018-12-19T18:14:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T02:14:08","slug":"5-time-gold-medalist-missy-franklin-retires-from-swimming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/5-time-gold-medalist-missy-franklin-retires-from-swimming\/","title":{"rendered":"5-Time Gold Medalist Missy Franklin Retires From Swimming"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Vanessa Romo<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Swimming champion Missy Franklin announced her retirement from the sport in an emotional letter to ESPN.com on Wednesday. She is 23.<\/p>\n

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Simon Hofmann\/Getty Images for Laureus<\/p>\n

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Simon Hofmann\/Getty Images for Laureus<\/p>\n

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Five-time Olympic gold medalist and world record-holder Missy Franklin announced her retirement from swimming in an impassioned letter <\/a>to ESPN.com on Wednesday, citing chronic shoulder pain that has ravaged her body and psyche over the last years of her career. <\/p>\n

“It took me a long time to say the words, ‘I am retiring.’ A long, long time. But now I’m ready,” she said. <\/p>\n

“I’m ready to not be in pain every day. I’m ready to become a wife and, one day, a mother. I’m ready to continue growing each and every day to be the best person and role model I can be. I’m ready for the rest of my life,” Franklin wrote. <\/p>\n

The 23-year-old became an Olympic sensation during the 2012 London games where she was hailed by authorities in the sport as the new, best hope of American swimming<\/a>. And she did not disappoint. <\/p>\n

At 17, with her braces recently removed, she beamed from the podium time and time again, earning a total of five medals<\/a> and becoming the first woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics in any sport. <\/p>\n