5-time Olympic swim champion Missy Franklin set to return

Five-time Olympic swimming champion Missy Franklin is planning to return from double shoulder surgery at upcoming meets in France and Spain. The American athlete hasn't competed since the 2016 Summer Games in Rio.

Double shoulder surgery has sidelined American since 2016 Olympics

Five-time Olympic swimming champion Missy Franklin is planning to return from double shoulder surgery at upcoming meets in France and Spain. (Michael Sohn/The Associated Press)

Five-time Olympic swimming champion Missy Franklin is planning to return from double shoulder surgery at upcoming meets in France and Spain.

It will mark the first time that the American competes since the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, where she won a relay gold medal.

Franklin is entered in the 50-, 100- and 200-metre backstroke and the 100 and 200 free for Mare Nostrum meets in Canet, France, this weekend and Barcelona next week.

Earlier this year, Franklin left the University of California in Berkeley and relocated to the University of Georgia, where she is pursuing a psychology degree.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Franklin won two individual golds, two relay golds and relay bronze.

Franklin missed all of last year after surgeries on both shoulders.