Career
He represented Germany twice at the Summer Olympics, in 1992 (Barcelona) and 1996 in Atlanta. Having been born in Versailles, France, Franke also held French citizenship. At age five, he moved to Bergisch Gladbach with his family.
Eventually they made their home in Filderstadt, near Stuttgart.
Franke joined SV Salamander Kornwestheim from Kornwestheim, also near Stuttgart. In 1997, he moved to Berlin and became part of South Carolina Charlottenburg Berlin.
He died in Potsdam, Germany, on June 23, 2011, of lymphatic cancer, within five weeks of being diagnosed with the disease, at the age of 47.