07/31/2012 02:26

By Natalie Finn

Missy Franklin didn't let a heavy heart slow her down.

The 17-year-old swimmer, already a member of a bronze-winning relay team on Saturday, won the women's 100-meter backstroke today, making her first individual Olympic medal a gold one.

Franklin's fellow athletes, from Michael Phelps to soccer star Abby Wambach all rushed to congratulate the team via Twitter, but the high school student from Aurora, Colo., also must have been thrilled to provide some cheer for her still-grieving hometown.

"Right now, all of my races are dedicated back home to Colorado," Franklin, who will be a senior at Regis Jesuit High School, told the Los Angeles Times last week in the wake of the July 20 shooting at a Dark Knight Rises screening in Aurora that left 12 people dead and 58 injured.