Ryan Murphy

Early life and education Murphy began dreaming of competing at the Olympic Games when he was seven years old.

Murphy graduated from Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida in 2013 and attended the University of California, Berkeley where he competed in swimming under Head Coach Dave Durden. While competing for the California Golden Bears (Cal), he was an eight-time NCAA individual national champion, winning the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Swimming career 2011 At the age of 16, Murphy earned his first career international medals, both in the 200-meter backstroke. At the 2011 World Junior Swimming Championships in Lima, Murphy won a bronze medal in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:59.63. Later in 2011, at the 2011 Pan American Games, Murphy won another bronze also in the 200-meter backstroke. In the final, he recorded a time of 1:58.50.

2012

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, Murphy missed the Olympic team, finishing sixth in the 100-meter backstroke (53.92) and fourth in the 200-meter backstroke (1:57.39).

Following the Olympics, Murphy competed at the 2012 World Short Course Championships in Istanbul. He won a bronze medal in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:48.86, finishing behind Radosław Kawęcki and Ryan Lochte. Murphy earned a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay for his participation in the heats, swimming the backstroke leg with a time of 50.91.

2013 At the 2013 US National Championships, Murphy just missed qualifying for the 2013 World Aquatics Championships, finishing third in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke with times of 53.38 and 1:56.37, respectively.

2014 Murphy won the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes at his first NCAA D1 Swimming Championships. His 100-yard backstroke time of 44.78 was a US 17–18 National Age Group (NAG) record, and his 200-yard backstroke time of 1:37.23 broke both Tyler Clary's NCAA record and the 17–18 NAG record. He also placed eighth in the 200-yard IM and swam on Cal's 200 and 400 medley and freestyle relays en route to Cal winning the team championship.

2015 At the 2015 NCAA Championships, Murphy swept the backstroke events. He broke the American record previously held by Ryan Lochte in the 200-yard backstroke. He also won the 100-yard backstroke, breaking Lochte's NCAA record. Murphy also placed fifth in the 200 individual medley (IM) and was named CSCAA Swimmer of the Meet.

2016 NCAA Championships At the 2016 NCAA D1 Swimming Championships, Murphy continued his backstroke winning streak with first-place finishes the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes in record times. His times of 43.49 and 1:35.73, respectively broke his own NCAA, American, and US Open records. He also placed third in the 200-yard IM in 1:40.27 and was once again was named CSCAA Swimmer of the Meet, this time sharing the title with former Bolles teammates Joseph Schooling and Caeleb Dressel.

US Summer Olympic Trials At the 2016 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, Murphy made his first Olympic team by placing first in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke events. He also made the 4×100 medley relay by virtue of his win in the 100-meter backstroke.

2016 Rio Summer Olympics

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Murphy won gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke, as well as in the 4×100-meter medley relay together with Cody Miller, Michael Phelps, and Nathan Adrian. Murphy broke Aaron Peirsol's world record for the 100-meter backstroke with his relay split time of 51.85, and the relay team as a whole set a new Olympic record with a time of 3:27.95. Murphy's win in the 100-meter backstroke, with a time of 51.97 seconds, set a new Olympic record for the event. It also marked the sixth consecutive time a swimmer representing the United States had won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke at the Olympic Games. Murphy also placed third in the 200-yard IM, leading after the breaststroke leg but overtaken in freestyle.

World Championships

At the 2017 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, Murphy won the 200-meter backstroke and placed second to Matt Grevers in the 100-meter backstroke to qualify for the World Championships later that year.

At the 2017 World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Murphy placed third in the 100-meter backstroke behind Xu Jiayu and Grevers and second in the 200-meter backstroke behind Evgeny Rylov and ahead of countryman and former college teammate Jacob Pebley. Murphy also earned gold medals by swimming in the prelims on the 4×100-meter medley and mixed medley relays. The mixed medley relay set a World and Championship record time of 3:40.28 in the prelims, a record later broken by in the US team in finals.

2018 2018 Pan Pacific Championships

During the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in August 2018 in Tokyo, Japan, Murphy won three gold medals: one in the 100-meter backstroke, one in the 200-meter backstroke, and one in the 4x100-meter medley relay. Murphy's strong finish to the Championships, winning two gold medals on the final day of competition, was noted by Jacksonville newspaper The Florida Times-Union. His gold medal performance in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:53.57 established a new Championships record that was over 1.5 seconds faster than the silver medalist in the event, Ryosuke Irie.

USA Swimming took notice of Murphy's swims at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships and nominated him for the "Relay Performance of the Year", "Male Race of the Year", and "Male Athlete of the Year" Golden Goggle Awards. In total, he won all three awards for which he received nominations.

2018 World Short Course Championships Murphy competed at the 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships in Hangzhou, China in December 2018. He won medals in three individual events: gold in the 100-meter backstroke, silver in the 50-meter backstroke, and silver in the 200-meter backstroke. He also medaled in three relay events: gold in the men's 4×100-meter medley relay, gold in the mixed 4×50-meter medley relay, and silver in the men's 4×50-meter medley relay.

2019 2019 World Aquatics Championships

In July 2019 at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Murphy won three medals. Swimming with Lilly King, Caeleb Dressel, and Simone Manuel in the final of the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay, he won a silver medal. The relay finished two hundredths of a second behind Australia. Murphy also won the silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke and the men's 4×100-meter medley relay.

2021 2020 US Olympic Trials In June 2021, Murphy qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in the 100-meter backstroke at the 2020 USA Swimming Olympic Trials. He won the event at the US Olympic Trials, swimming a time of 52.33 at the final on June 15. He was the only veteran to qualify in the event for the 2020 Olympics; the other qualifier in the event, Hunter Armstrong, was a first-time member of the US Olympic Team. In the morning prelims of the 200-meter backstroke, Murphy placed fifth with a time of 1:57.95 and advanced to the semifinals. In the evening, Murphy swam a time of 1:55.60 and advanced to the finals in first-place overall. He swam a time of 1:54.20 in the final, winning the event and securing a spot at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the 200-meter backstroke.

2020 Summer Olympics

Murphy was selected as one of four captains for the US Olympic swim team at the 2020 Summer Olympics along with Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel, and Allison Schmitt. All four swimmers were veteran Olympians chosen to provide guidance for their fellow members of the US Olympic Swim Team, with Murphy highlighted for his calm demeanor and the stability he provided the team in a competitive context.

On day two of Olympic competition, in the prelims of the 100-meter backstroke, Murphy swam a 53.22 and tied in overall ranking for seventh with Russian Evgeny Rylov. In the semifinals the following day, Murphy swam the fastest in both semifinals heats with a time of 52.24 and advanced to the final. In the final, Murphy raced against a field of majority veteran Olympians, with five of the eight competitors, including himself, having competed in the final of the 100-meter backstroke at the 2016 Olympic Games. Speaking to national newspaper USA Today about winning the bronze medal after winning the gold medal in 2016, Murphy said, "Winning an Olympic gold means you're the best in the world. Being third in the world is no slouch." In the semifinals, Murphy swam over one second faster than in the prelims with a time of 1:55.38 and qualified for the final in third place. Murphy won his second medal of the 2020 Olympics, a silver medal, in the final of the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 1:54.15 on day seven of competition.

In the final of the 4×100-meter mixed medley relay, Murphy swam the backstroke leg of the relay, Lydia Jacoby the breaststroke, Torri Huske the butterfly, and Caeleb Dressel the freestyle leg of the relay; they placed fifth. It was the first time the event was included in the Olympic program for swimming. Murphy held off the field in his leg of the relay, tying Thomas Ceccon of Italy for first at the wall. The American team fell to eighth place by the end of the butterfly leg of the relay but made up some time on the freestyle leg to place fifth overall. By the end of the 2020 Olympics, Murphy had won a total of six Olympic medals, four in individual events and two in relay events, between his first (2016) and second (2020) Olympic Games. Additionally, Murphy's support of his teammates and the integrity of swimming as a sport, as well as his consistent performances since the 2016 Summer Olympics, earned him a nomination for the Male Athlete of the Year Golden Goggle Award.

International Swimming League For the 2021 season of the International Swimming League (ISL), Murphy was retained by the LA Current. He took a break from competition during the regular season of competition and remained on the roster heading into playoffs season. For his first race after the 2020 Olympic Games, Murphy swam a 1:48.43 in the 200-meter backstroke in the playoffs match number two, which was the fastest time in the 2021 year up to that point in time. For the second match of the playoffs, match thirteen overall, Murphy won enough points from his races to earn the most valuable player (MVP) of the match honor. In his second match of the playoffs season, match fifteen overall, Murphy ranked second overall in terms of MVP points, just 4.0 points behind Duncan Scott of London Roar, who was named match MVP. Starting off his third and final playoffs match of the season, Murphy won 19.0 points for his team in one race, winning the 200-meter backstroke in a personal season-best time of 1:48.10. Later the same day, in the 50-meter backstroke, Murphy won the event and set new Americas, American, and ISL records with a time of 22.53 seconds, surpassing the previous records in the event that he himself had set in the 2020 ISL season at 22.54 seconds. The second and final day of the match, Murphy won the 50-meter backstroke skins event, outscoring his competitors and winning in the final head-to-head race against Evgeny Rylov of Energy Standard with a time of 24.22 seconds. Murphy's performances earned him the number two spot for "The Week That Was" from Swimming World for the week of November 29. For the MVP points he had earned since the beginning of the ISL to the end of the 2021 season, Murphy ranked eighth overall with 610 points across thirteen matches.

2022 On day two of the 2022 US International Team Trials in Greensboro, North Carolina, Murphy qualified for the final of the 200-meter backstroke, ranking third in the prelim heats with a time of 1:57.46 and winning the final, qualifying for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships team with a time of 1:55.01. He swam a time of 24.57 in the final of the 50-meter backstroke and placed fourth. In the final of the 100-meter backstroke, Murphy placed second behind Hunter Armstrong with a time of 52.46 seconds, also qualifying for the World Championships team in the event. In October, he was named to the roster for the 2022 World Short Course Championships in the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke.

2024

Murphy placed first in the US Olympic Trials in the 200 M backstroke, becoming the first swimmer to win both the 200 and 100 events three years in a row. In Paris, he won bronze in the 100 M backstroke, silver in the 4 x 100 Medley, and gold in the mixed 4 x 100 medley.

International championships Murphy swam only in the prelims heats.

Personal best times

Long Course Event Time Meet Date Note(s) 50 m freestyle 23.77 TYR Pro Swim Series – Des Moines March 5, 2020 100 m freestyle 48.88 2017 US National Championships June 27, 2017 200 m freestyle 1:49.57 2018 California Speedo Grand Challenge May 25, 2018 50 m backstroke 24.24 2018 US National Championships July 27, 2018 Former AM, NR 100 m backstroke 51.85 2016 Summer Olympics August 13, 2016 AM, NR, Former WR 200 m backstroke 1:53.57 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships August 11, 2018 100 m butterfly 51.35 2023 US National Championships June 29, 2023

Short Course Meters Event Time Meet Date Note(s) 50 m backstroke 22.53 2021 International Swimming League November 25, 2021 AM, NR 100 m backstroke 48.50 2022 World Short Course Championships December 14, 2022 200 m backstroke 1:47.34 2018 World Short Course Championships December 16, 2018 50 m butterfly 22.65 2020 International Swimming League November 22, 2020

Short Course Yards Event Time Meet Date Note(s) 100 y backstroke 43.49 2016 NCAA Championships March 25, 2016 Former NCAA, American, US Open records 200 y backstroke 1:35.73 2016 NCAA Championships March 26, 2016 NCAA, American, US Open records

World records + Long course meters (50 m pool) Event Time Meet Date Location Age Status Ref 100 m backstroke

r 2016 Summer Olympics August 13, 2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Former

Golden Goggle Award, Male Race of the Year: 2018 (100-meter backstroke) 2022 (#9) SwimSwam Swammy Award, U.S. Swimmer of the Year (male): 2018 SwimSwam Swammy Award, NCAA Swimmer of the Year (male): 2014, 2016 Pac-12 Conference, Scholar-Athlete of the Year (Men's Swimming & Diving): 2016—2017 Pac-12 Conference, Swimmer of the Year: 2015, 2016, 2017 Golden Goggle Award nominee, Breakout Performer of the Year: 2014 Golden Goggle Award nominee, Male Athlete of the Year: 2021 The couple announced their engagement on May 15, 2022.

In an interview with Melvin Stewart of SwimSwam in 2021, Murphy shared that he is approximately 95% Irish by ancestry; his mother is of full Irish descent and his father is approximately 90% Irish by ancestry. Murphy was raised in a strong Catholic family and remains committed to his faith, stating, "I’m a firm believer in God. My faith is important to me. There are, however, times when I rely on him more than others. Overall, I am private in my spirituality."