Missy Franklin announces she’s taking time off from swimming after shoulder surgeries

Franklin indicated that she had separate shoulder surgeries earlier this year to remove the “built up bursal and scar tissue.”
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Missy Franklin announced Wednesday that she’s taking time off from competitive swimming to recover from shoulder surgeries. (Erich Schlegel/USA Today Sports)

Five-Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin plans to take a little time off from competitive swimming.

Franklin, who spent part of her childhood in Colorado and graduated from Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, announced on social media Wednesday that she needs the down time to recover from shoulder surgeries.

"I had started feeling pain in my shoulders last year but it wasn't until early January, when I had an MRI, that I learned I had bursitis in both shoulders," Franklin wrote.

Franklin indicated that she had separate shoulder surgeries earlier this year to remove the "built up bursal and scar tissue."

Franklin won four gold medals as a 17-year-old at the London Olympics in 2012, but she struggled in Rio last summer. She failed to reach the final in her two individual events, the 200 freestyle and 200 backstroke.

She did not indicate when she'd be able to swim competitively again.

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