{"id":592957,"date":"2024-07-29T14:52:31","date_gmt":"2024-07-29T21:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=592957"},"modified":"2024-07-30T07:58:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T14:58:58","slug":"paris-olympics-after-100-back-bronze-ryan-murphy-learns-i-will-be-a-girl-dad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/paris-olympics-after-100-back-bronze-ryan-murphy-learns-i-will-be-a-girl-dad\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics: After 100 Back Bronze, Ryan Murphy Learns ‘I Will Be a Girl Dad’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paris Olympics: After 100 Back Bronze, Ryan Murphy Learns ‘I Will Be a Girl Dad’<\/strong><\/p>\n

After earning Olympic bronze in the men’s 100 backstroke<\/a>, the third consecutive Olympics in which he has reached the podium in the event,\u00a0Ryan Murphy<\/strong> had a surprise waiting as he walked the pool deck at La D\u00e9fense Arena posing with his bronze medal. Murphy noticed his wife\u00a0Bridget<\/strong> in the stands holding a sign: “Ryan, it\u2019s a girl.”<\/p>\n

Murphy was not complaining about his bronze-medal performance even beforehand, but the gender-reveal prompted a massive smile that he wore for the rest of the night.<\/p>\n

“We had been guessing for a couple weeks now what the gender was going to be,” Murphy said, noting that he had been thinking female based on patterns in his mother’s family. “That\u2019s a great way to find out. That really lit me up and brought this night to a whole other level.”<\/p>\n

Murphy has made a career of his consistency on the international stage, winning a medal in all but one Olympic and World Championship backstroke race (aside from this February’s meet, which he skipped) since 2016. During that entire time, swimming has been the center of his life, having graduated from college in 2017. When his first child arrives, Murphy notes, life will be much different.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s really exciting to learn that I\u2019m going to be a girl dad. January of next year, my life is going to change, and I\u2019m 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\u2019s going to change coming up. I\u2019m really looking forward to what\u2019s coming, a baby girl, and also looking forward to the rest of this week.”<\/p>\n

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This is so much bigger than ANY medal. Congrats Murph!!@ryan_f_murphy<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/uLo5YuN7Ge<\/a><\/p>\n

— Rowdy Gaines (@RowdyGaines) July 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n