Ryan Murphy

Ryan Fitzgerald Murphy OLY (born July 2, 1995) is an American competitive swimmer specializing in backstroke.

He is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and the former world-record holder in the men's 100-meter backstroke.

He also won a gold medal in the 4×100-meter medley relay with Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian, and Cody Miller, and Murphy's backstroke relay leg broke the world record previously set by Aaron Peirsol in 2009.

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.

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.

Murphy graduated from Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida in 2013 and attended the University of California, Berkeley.

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.

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.

Swimming 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.

At the age of 16, Murphy earned his first career international medals, both in the 200-meter backstroke.

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.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Murphy swept the backstroke events, winning gold medals in both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke races.

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.

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.

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.

His gold medal was also the first won by a male alumnus of a high school in Jacksonville, Florida for the United States in an individual swimming event.

In total, at his first Olympic Games, Murphy raced and won gold medals in all three of his events, set three Olympic records and one world record, and was named as one of the stars of the 2016 Summer Olympics by the International Olympic Committee.

At the 2017 NCAA championships, Murphy completed his four-for-four sweep of the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events, becoming only the fourth man in NCAA history to sweep 100- and 200-yard events of a single stroke four years in a row after John Nabor (backstroke), Pablo Morales (butterfly), and Brendan Hansen (breaststroke).

Murphy also placed third in the 200-yard IM, leading after the breastroke leg but overtaken in freestyle.

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.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Murphy won a gold medal and set the world record in the 4x100-meter medley relay with Michael Andrew, Caeleb Dressel, and Zach Apple, in addition to a silver medal in the 200-meter backstroke and bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke.

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