Gold Medal-winning U.S. swimmer Missy Franklin is planning to return to the Olympics next summer in Rio, but this time she likely will be "supported by a virtual army of sponsors, paying her the money she passed on" following the '12 London Games, according to ESPN's Hannah Storm. Franklin is repped by WME-IMG and already has signed a deal with Speedo after turning pro in May. However, she said she "never really wanted to know" how much she declined in the aftermath of her success in London in order to swim for the Univ. of California. She said, "For me, that really wasn’t what was important. It was a really hard conversation to have. The money I was giving up could help me sustain my family, my future family for the rest of my life. But what I got was so much more than what I could have ever received from that.” Franklin indicated she is wary about the sexualization of female athletes when it comes to advertising. She said, "It’s something that I’ve always taken very, very seriously. You have these incredible opportunities coming in, and that’s the first question you have to ask yourself. 'Does this fit with my belief system? Is this something that I would be proud to represent the way that I want to be portrayed, the way that I truly am?' Being with an agent and a publicist and my parents and a coach who understand that, they’re able to filter a lot of that stuff out before it even gets to me” ("Face to Face with Hannah Storm," ESPN, 8/6).
