--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Missy Franklin's Flower-Filled Homecoming description: The Olympic swimmer was welcomed back to her Colorado home with a veritable garden of friendly notes planted across her front lawn. canonical: https://time.com/4456659/rio-2016-olympics-missy-franklin-homecoming/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-17T21:31:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:37.653Z og:title: Missy Franklin Comes Home to a Field of Paper Flowers og:description: The Olympic swimmer was greeted in Colorado with a veritable garden of notes. og:url: https://time.com/4456659/rio-2016-olympics-missy-franklin-homecoming/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3bf9f44980f29df/6988a2bd196cf4bdab03ce12/missy-franklin.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Training Camp Media Day og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Missy Franklin Comes Home to a Field of Paper Flowers twitter:description: The Olympic swimmer was greeted in Colorado with a veritable garden of notes. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3bf9f44980f29df/6988a2bd196cf4bdab03ce12/missy-franklin.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Missy Franklin Came Home to a Field of Friendly Paper Flowers  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 17, 2016 9:31 PM UTC  SAN ANTONIO, TX - JULY 16: Missy Franklin talks with the media during the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Training Camp Media Day on July 16, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) SAN ANTONIO, TX - JULY 16: Missy Franklin talks with the media during the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Training Camp Media Day on July 16, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)Ronald Martinez—Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 17, 2016 9:31 PM UTC Hometown hero [Missy Franklin](http://time100.time.com/2013/11/12/the-16-most-influential-teens-of-2013/slide/missy-franklin/?iid=sr-link10) is the toast of her neighborhood. The Olympian was welcomed back to her home in Colorado on Wednesday by a heartwarming sight: her front yard had was transformed into a veritable garden of good wishes, as the lawn was sprinkled with heart-shaped paper flowers inscribed with kind notes to the swimmer. Luckily it looks like the skies were blue without a cloud in sight — but we recommend she picks the paper blooms before the elements do away with all the words of support and encouragement. Franklin returns from Rio [with another gold medal](http://time.com/4444818/gold-medal-team-usa-rio-2016-olympics/) to add to her collection, courtesy of a win for her leg of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, although the world-record-holder from 2012 [failed to qualify for the finals](http://time.com/4449636/michael-phelps-rio-2016-olympics-gold-medals-lochte/?iid=sr-link5) of her two individual events. > [](https://twitter.com/missyfranklin/status/765950598894133248) Watch to the very end of the clip to see the neighborhood kids come by to greet their local Olympian. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4456659/rio-2016-olympics-missy-franklin-homecoming/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4456659/rio-2016-olympics-missy-franklin-homecoming/"},"headline":"Missy Franklin Came Home to a Field of Friendly Paper Flowers","datePublished":"2016-08-17T21:31:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:37.653Z","description":"Local celebrity","url":"https://time.com/4456659/rio-2016-olympics-missy-franklin-homecoming/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","viral","Summer Olympics","Rio 2016","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3bf9f44980f29df/6988a2bd196cf4bdab03ce12/missy-franklin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc3bf9f44980f29df/6988a2bd196cf4bdab03ce12/missy-franklin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Training Camp Media Day","caption":"2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Training Camp Media Day","creditText":"Ronald Martinez—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4456659/rio-2016-olympics-missy-franklin-homecoming/","name":"Missy Franklin Came Home to a Field of Friendly Paper Flowers"}}]}] ```