PARIS — For American swimmer Ryan Murphy it was a life-affirming two-in-one: He had just won bronze in the men’s 100-meter backstroke when he found out his pregnant wife was having a girl.
While he was walking to the podium Monday, Murphy’s wife, Bridget, held up a sign saying, “Ryan it’s a girl!”
Murphy, 29, already had six Olympic medals going into Paris 2024 — four individual titles and back-to-back wins in the 4x100-meter medley, first alongside Michael Phelps in Rio 2016 and then in a team that included Caeleb Dressel in Tokyo 2021.
Australia leads the swimming medals table with three golds, with Team USA in second with two. The U.S. has the most swimming medals in total, with 11.
On Monday, after he won bronze behind Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, who took gold, and China’s Xu Jiayu in silver, the message from his wife capped an unforgettable evening, Murphy said.
“That’s a great way to find out,” he said. “That really lit me up and brought this night to a whole other level. It’s really exciting to learn that I’m going to be a girl dad.”
Murphy is originally from Chicago, but his family moved to the Jacksonville, Florida, area when he was a young child. It was there that he took up swimming, partly motivated by wanting to compete with his older siblings, who were already making waves in the pool.
“I was just the young kid running around with my life vest on, chomping at the bit so I could play with my older siblings,” he said before the Games.
Murphy and his wife married in September and are expecting their daughter in January.
“My life is going to change, and I’m really excited for that,” he said. “It definitely does put things into perspective. I think up to this point, swimming has been the most important thing in my life. Every major decision I make is with swimming in mind, and that’s going to change coming up.”
He added, “I’m really looking forward to what’s coming, a baby girl.”
