Missy Franklin

The world short course swimming championships start on Wednesday in Istanbul, four months after the London Olympics but with notable absentees, including megastar Michael Phelps and teenage sensation Missy Franklin.

Missy Franklin, Ye Shiwen, Sun Yang and Yannick Agnel were part of a youth movement in the 2012 Olympic pool that signalled swimming has plenty to look forward to after Michael Phelps.

Missy Franklin, the Colorado teenager whose mesmerizing Olympic debut yielded four gold medals and one bronze, has been named USA Swimming's athlete of the year.

Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps and Mo Farah delivered the signature performances of the Olympics as Great Britain shrugged off its grim economic worries to stage a memorable, record-breaking showpiece.

Even as Michael Phelps added a little more gilding to a glittering Games career, the effect of his exploits was rippling through the waters of the London 2012 competition pool.

Teenage US swim star Missy Franklin has said she is ready to follow in Michael Phelps' golden footsteps after she collected four gold medals and broke two world records on her Olympic debut in London.

Michael Phelps bowed out of swimming with a final flourish on Saturday as poster-girl Jessica Ennis crowned one of British sport's most memorable days with the London Games' signature moment.

Michael Phelps savored one last golden moment Saturday, capping his remarkable Olympic swimming career with an 18th gold medal in the final event in the Aquatics Centre competition pool.

Teen sensation Missy Franklin celebrated four gold medals at her first Olympics in spearheading the United States to the women's 4x100m medley relay gold in world record time on Saturday.

US great Michael Phelps bowed out of Olympic competition in golden style Saturday as Britain's Jessica Ennis provided the London Games' signature moment with a dazzling heptathlon win.

US great Michael Phelps bowed out of Olympic competition in golden style Saturday as Britain's Jessica Ennis provided the London Games' signature moment with a dazzling heptathlon win.

Michael Phelps said goodbye with an 18th Olympic gold medal Saturday, the US men remaining unbeaten in the 4x100m medley relay on a last record-setting night of swimming at the London Aquatics Centre.

US great Michael Phelps bowed out of Olympic competition in golden style Saturday as Jamaican heavyweights Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake took centre-stage on the athletics track.

The United States won the Olympic swimming women's 4x100m medley relay gold in a world record time of 3min 52.05sec on Saturday.

US great Michael Phelps closed his Olympic individual career in breathtaking style as America ruled the pool and records tumbled on the cycle track.

American teenager Missy Franklin, heralding the new generation of US swimmers, clinched the backstroke double at the London Olympics with a 200m world record on Friday.

Missy Franklin of the United States won the gold medal in the women's swimming 200m backstroke here Friday with a new world record.

Michael Phelps' old foe Milorad Cavic predicted the US superstar would produce "something special" Friday in the 100m butterfly final, the last individual race of his epic Olympic career.

Allison Schmitt ran down Alicia Coutts on the final leg Wednesday as the United States emerged victorious in a duel with Australia for Olympic gold in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay.

A bloody movie theater massacre cast a shadow over this corner of Colorado, but the golden Olympic performance of local teenager Missy Franklin has proved a light in the darkness.