Congratulations to our Colorado Olympic Athletes!

Missy Franklin and several other Colorado Olympic Athletes were welcomed home on August 18th at the Centennial Center Park.   The Colorado athletes won a total of 9 Olympic medals in these games, five of which came from teenager Missy Franklin.   These athletes were celebrated and honored as fans from all over came to welcome them back to Colorado.

Centennial welcomed back the city’s own Missy Franklin and five other 2012 Colorado Olympians to Centennial Center Park on Aug. 18.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, Centennial Mayor Cathy Noon and other local dignitaries were on hand to celebrate the total of nine medals earned by the state’s athletes. 

“Some feel that training at this altitude gives our Colorado Olympians a distinct advantage in 
London. We like to call it attitude with altitude,” said Hickenlooper.

The Mile High welcome in Centennial’s new park was a hastily planned affair that paid particular tribute to Franklin, one of the Olympics’ brightest new stars, having won four gold medals and one bronze and breaking several world records in the process.

Franklin, 17, took it all in stride as she accepted the welcome home with her trademark grace and modesty.

“Just being able to be home again is the best thing in the world,” she told the crowd in Center Park. 

“… Going out there and getting the gold, that’s awesome too. But the support we get and we’ve seen from all of you in Colorado, I can tell you we all appreciate it more than anything.”
Fans later surrounded Franklin for an Olympic trial of autographs.

Since returning to Colorado, Franklin has been getting back into the swing of regular life, her mother, D.A., told The Villager.

“When she saw her friends, they all wanted to see her medals, and then they just started talking about boys,” she said.

Franklin began her senior year at Regis Jesuit High School last week.

Other honored athletes included:
• Taylor Ritzel, Rowing [Gold medalist]
• Georgia Gould, Cycling [Bronze medalist]
• Lance Brooks, Track and Field
• David Herman, BMX
• Kara Lynn Joyce, Swimming
A total of 39 Coloradans took part in 13 Olympic events.

 For more information please see Villager Publishing.