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LONDON — She is the female Michael Phelps.
The possibilities are limitless for Missy Franklin, the 17-year-old bundle of positive energy on the U.S. women’s swim team who will compete in seven events at these Olympic Games.
Phelps famously competed in eight events at the 2008 Games and won a record eight gold medals in Beijing.
The goals for Franklin, who’s competing in her first Olympics, are much more modest and from the heart. Yesterday she said she’ll dedicate each of her events to the victims and families of the Aurora, Colo., shooting.
The site of the horrific movie theater massacre that left at least 12 people dead early last Friday is just nine miles from the high school where Franklin is entering her senior year, Regis Jesuit.
Franklin was with the U.S. team at a pre-Olympic training camp in France when it happened and she saw the news on Twitter.
After contacting her mother, she spent much of the day making sure her friends were OK. Franklin said she had friends who were at the premier of “The Dark Knight Rises” that day, but they were not at the theater where the shooting took place.
She said yesterday she was still “shaken’’ by the tragedy and wants to use her swimming in these Olympics to “give a little bit of fun for the tough summer Colorado has had.’’ The state has also been under siege of wildfires for weeks.
“Right now, all of my races are dedicated to everyone back home in Colorado,’’ Franklin said. “Every one of my races will be focused on the people back home.’’
Franklin is expected to open her Olympics tomorrow night with a leg of the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.
Phelps said he has offered to speak to Franklin about how to handle the seven events in eight days, but she hasn’t taken him up on it, saying she’s relied on her teammates on the women’s team.
“I told her if she needs anything to come to me and ask me and said, ‘You call me or text me and ask me any questions.’ But she hasn’t,’’ Phelps said. “This week is going to be a completely different experience for her. If she can control her energy she is going to be fine, but that’s going to be a very tough part. It’s a very long meet — eight days with semifinals and finals — and it does add up.
“I noticed it in 2008, that the last couple of days I got super tired and super run down. It hits you hard.’’
Phelps and the rest of her teammates, though, marvel at Franklin’s youthful energy. Her 1000-watt smile lights up the room.
“She really is like a breath of fresh air,” Elizabeth Beisel, Franklin’s rival in the 200-meter backstroke, said.
“Sometimes I feel she’s on a sugar rush 24/7,” Ryan Lochte said. “She calms down everyone. A lot of tension can be brought up and she kind of makes you realize how fun swimming is.”
Franklin said the advice she’s gotten most from her teammates has been “to take every single moment in and not let it pass you by.’’
“Having fun is the most important thing,’’ she said. “If you’re having fun you’ll swim better.’’
She insists despite swimming the seven events the medal count is not in her mind, saying, “It’s not about being at the podium, it’s about being a good teammate and competing for our country.’’
Franklin is so innocent and star struck by the Olympics, she sounded most excited yesterday about the London bedspreads on the athletes’ bed “that we get to keep.’’
“No matter what happens, this is still my first Olympics. I have the expectation to go in there and leave 110 percent in that pool. If I can do that for every single race, I’ll be proud of myself.”
