American swimmer Ryan Murphy chatted about his three Olympic medals he won at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and he shared some of his future plans, which include a baby on the way, and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
3 Olympic medals in Paris this summer
Murphy won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 meter mixed medley as part of Team USA (with a world record time of 3:37.43), a silver in the men’s 4 × 100 meter medley relay (3:28.01) and a bronze in the men’s 100 meter backstroke races.
“I’m going for the aesthetic collection of medals again, and that’s cool,” he said with a sweet laugh. “It looks great, and I am really proud of the performances behind those medals.”
His total Olympic medal count is nine (five gold, two silver, and two bronze). “It’s cool,” he admitted. “Now, being a month removed from the Olympic Games, I can look back at my career in totality, I never would have expected that I could have accumulated that number of medals.”
“It has been a lot of hard work, and a lot of people helping me along the way,” he acknowledged.
A proud moment during these Olympic Games was finding out that he was going to be a “girl dad.” “That was incredible,” he exclaimed. “Life is moving, and it’s going to be changing a lot in January here. I am very excited about it. Bridget and I can’t wait.”
Lessons learned from his Paris Olympic journey
On the lessons learned from his Paris Olympic journey, Murphy remarked, “This Paris journey, for me, was a lot about mental strength.”
“There were things going on with my body throughout the meet and I just had to deal with it. I had to get up on those blocks and show up with what I had each day, and that was a bit of a challenge, because you want to feel perfect each day at the Olympics, and that just wasn’t this time around,” he elaborated.
“I had to be mentally tough with myself, I had to stay mentally in it, and I just gave everything that I had,” he added.
Areas that he would like to grow in the future
When asked about the areas that he would like to grow in the future, Murphy shared, “Mentality is a work in progress.” “It is always a place that I am interested in, and just the way I think about things,” he said.
“I am always searching for ways to improve, and I do that mostly through conversations and through my own research. I like leaning on experts in their fields to learn the latest and greatest,” Murphy elaborated.
Murphy eyes the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles
He revealed that he would love to compete at the home Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. “That truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “I would love to make the pursuit in that direction. I will sit down with my coaches on how to approach that.”
“I am definitely looking forward to Los Angeles,” he added.
Stage of his life
On the title of the current chapter of his life, Murphy said with a sweet laugh, “Girl dad mode.” “I have a lot of love to give, so this little girl will be getting a lot of love,” he expressed.
“I see Nathan Adrian with his two little girls, and they just adore him. Nathan is my girl dad mentor in life,” he acknowledged.
Success
Regarding his definition of the word success, Murphy said, “To me, success means going for everything with everything you’ve got.”
“I like to take my pursuit seriously whether that is swimming or things outside of the pool, and I really just want to reach my potential in everything that I am doing,” he added.
Remembering Coach Jon Urbanchek
Murphy remembered the late but great U.S. Olympic and university coach Jon Urbanchek, who passed away on May 9, 2024, at the age of 87.
“Losing Jon Urbanchek was a heartbreaker. He was an absolute legend, and he did so much for the sport of swimming. He will be missed dearly by all,” Murphy said.
Meeting Cookie Monster in Paris
On a lighter note, a fun time in Paris involved meeting “Cookie Monster” along with his teammates Bobby Finke and Caeleb Dressel. “That was hilarious. It was fun doing that group interview with Bobby and Caeleb; I’ve essentially known Caeleb my whole life. It was super fun to go on that set with Cookie Monster,” he said.
“It was a pretty fun time. This is something that I will show my kids, and I think they will love it,” he added.
In addition, Murphy serves as an ambassador of the Goldfish Swim School.
Message for his fans
For his fans and supporters, Murphy expressed, “Thank you. In my day-to-day life, pursuing an Olympic dream is really hard, and you have to pull motivation from so many different parts of your life. One place where I pull motivation from is from the people that are supporting me. They really do help me out.”
To learn more about Ryan Murphy, follow him on Instagram.
