London: US swimming sensation Missy Franklin is aiming to lift the spirits of her traumatised Colorado home town with her performances at the London Olympics after a shooting massacre last week.
The 17-year-old, who can become the first US woman to swim seven events at one Olympics, comes from Aurora, outside Denver, where 12 people were shot dead and 58 left wounded by a gunman at a cinema last Friday.
Franklin first heard of the shootings while she was with the United States Olympic team at a pre-Games training camp in Vichy, France.
Franklin, who won five medals including three golds at last year’s Shanghai world championships, was shaken when she first heard the news.
“It’s definitely been hard. I first learned from Twitter. I was going through the news feed and I saw CNN tweeted it out and clicked on the link and read about it and was absolutely horrified,” Franklin told a press conference at the Games on Thursday.
“I texted my mum right away and even though it was 3am there and I told her, she immediately got on the news and was sending me constant updates.”
Franklin said she wanted to help comfort her townspeople through their grieving with her performances at the London Olympics.
“It was just so senseless and you have to wonder why these things happen in the world,” she said.
“Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about it, I wish there was, but right now all I have to do is what I can do here and swim my heart out.
“Hopefully, I can make my state proud and give a little bit of fun for this really tough summer that Colorado has had.”
James Holmes, 24, is expected to be charged with 12 murders and 58 attempted murders at his next court appearance on Monday. The killings took place during a screening of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.
