Franziska van Almsick's swimming potential was discovered when she was five years old. However, it was not until she was fourteen years old, that van Almsick earned four medals at the Olympics, gaining silvers in the m freestyle, which she lost by only 15 centimetres, and in the medley relay, and bronze medals in the m freestyle and in the 4xm freestyle relay. She also competed in the m butterfly and the 50m freestyle. At the world championships, van Almsick broke the 8-year-old world record in the free with a time of Four days later, van Almsick swam the leadoff leg for Germany in the 4xm relay. In Atlanta, she picked up another silver medal in that relay, as well as a bronze in the 4xm relay, and she finished fifth in the m freestyle and sixth in the medley relay.