Missy Franklin could not control her tears when she spoke about how moved she was by the inspiring tale of the girls from Yuwa.
The Jharkhand-based NGO run by an American couple is the winner of the Laureus Sport for Good award. “These girls have shown what sport could do to lives and their success is the highlight for me from this year’s Laureus Awards,” Franklin, who has won swimming golds at the Olympics, told The Hindu shortly after the show ended at the Sporting Club here late on Monday night. “And I consider it as a great honour that I have been inducted into the Laureus Academy.”
It has been a homecoming of sorts for her. She was the Laureus Sports Woman of the Year in 2014.
She was just 19 then. Now four years later, she has retired. “It was a very tough decision, but I had to take it because I was in too much pain and there wasn’t much I could do with my shoulder injury,” she said. “Yes, I know had another Olympics or two in me still, but at least I could take heart from the fact I have five golds at home.”
She admits it isn’t easy staying away from the pool. “I was put into water by my mother when I was six months old, as she couldn’t swim and didn’t want me to be like her,” she said. “In America, every kid is taught to swim.”
“That is what India needs to do if it wants to do well in swimming,” said Franklin, who is fascinated by the country and Hinduism. “There is no reason why India couldn’t do well in swimming. But children need to be taught when they are very young. It has to be a cultural thing, asin the US.”
