Olympic medals are old news to American backstroke great Ryan Murphy. He collected his seventh, a bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke, Monday night at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, as Murphy stepped off the podium to greet his wife, Bridget Konttinen, in the La Defense Arena stands, he was hit with some news that instantly took priority over times, splits and medals.
Konttinen unfurled a black-and-white sign that read, “RYAN IT’S A GIRL,” revealing to Murphy the gender of the couple’s first child.
“We had been guessing for a couple weeks now what the gender was gonna be, so that was a great way to find out. I think that just kind of like lit me up and really brought this night to a whole-‘nother level.”
Murphy, a native of Jacksonville, Florida suburb Ponte Vedra Beach and massive Jacksonville Jaguars fan, already had his future daughter’s social life on his mind at the post-race press conference.”
“I don’t know how far along (Jaguars quarterback) Trevor Lawrence and his wife are, but I think he has a daughter on the way so I hope our daughters can be friends,” Murphy said.