Your Daily News Download
Getty Images
7/31: U.S. teen Missy Franklin wins gold
Teenage swimmer Missy Franklin won her first Olympic gold medal less than 15 minutes after finishing the 200-meter freestyle semifinal. Franklin,17, finished the 100-meter backstroke in a time of 58.33 seconds, a half-second faster than her month-old American record. Australian Emily Seebohm finished in 58.68 for the silver medal and Aya Terakawa of Japan took the bronze medal in 58.83. After completing the race, the high school senior from Denver said she had "a lot of fun." “I dreamed about this moment my whole life,” Franklin said, adding, “I finally got one after 17 years!” She was so emotional on the podium, she couldn’t sing the national anthem. "I was just a huge mess. Just seeing the flag being raised was so incredibly unbelievable. I could never have dreamed of (a feeling) like that. All of the things I've gone through passed through my mind — just the early morning wake-ups, the practices, the doubles, all the meets I've been to, all the friends that I've made. Just everything leading up to that point, and it was so unbelievably worth it."