Member-only story
End of an Era: Tori Franklin’s Leap Beyond The Track
The celebrated triple jumper closes one chapter and embraces the boundless possibilities ahead
Where do we begin.
My life has revolved around sports for the past twenty years… whether dance, karate, basketball, or track and field, I’ve always been moving, always pushing, grinding, trying to get better at whatever I do.
By 10 years old I knew that track and field would be my calling. I was faster than all the boys in my elementary school (except one), and I just had this drive to see how far I could push my body.
At the beginning I didn’t have any huge goals, I just wanted to beat whoever lined up next me. I didn’t have plans to compete in college or get sponsored or go to the Olympics. It was always just for me.
Until one day when I was a freshman, and a senior in high school grabbed me by the shoulders, looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Tori, do you realize how good you are? You can get a scholarship to college.”
I hadn’t thought about college, to be honest. I was considering moving to Los Angeles and becoming an actress. I always had this dream of (insert old timey Hollywood accent) being a staarrr, darling.
But I did get a full athletic scholarship to Michigan State University, and while I’d like to say the rest is history, it was no fairytale. There were definitely highlights, but my college career was also full of disappointment, heartbreak, loss, and defeat.
I wasn’t a shoo-in. I never won a NCAA championship. I only won one Outdoor Big-10 Championship, and I was only ever top-five at the USA Track and Field National Championships. I know some of that sounds really great, but not very many people would’ve bet on me to “make it” as a professional athlete.
Working three jobs, while training, and managing personal life circumstances made it hard sometimes to bet on myself. But just before I was about to quit, I had my first breakthrough, qualifying for my first World Championship team in…
