Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy finds out baby’s gender after winning bronze medal

‘That was the first time I heard the gender,’ Olympian says

Bronze Medalist Ryan Murphy of Team United States poses following the Swimming medal ceremony after the Men’s 100m Backstroke Final on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena on 29 July 2024 in Nanterre, France (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Olympic swimmer Ryan Murphy found out the sex of his unborn baby after winning a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

After the Olympic swimmer won a bronze medal for finishing third in the 100-meter backstroke race on 29 July, his wife Bridget Konttinen shouted from the stands holding a handwritten sign that said: “Ryan it’s a girl!”

Later, Murphy reunited with his wife, hugging and kissing as they celebrated his win and the happy news. The athlete recalled to the Associated Press: “I was walking back around and Bridget was holding up a sign and it said: ‘Ryan, it’s a girl.’”

“That was the first time I heard the gender,” he revealed, adding that he was surprised. “We both — we honestly both thought it was going to be a boy. And everyone — like everyone — we were talking to, they thought it was going to be a boy.”

He noted that he hopes his daughter will be best friends with the child of his friend, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is also expecting a daughter with his wife Marissa Lawrence. He said: “I hope our daughters can be friends.”

The Team USA and USA Swimming’s official Instagram account shared a photo of Konttinen holding the sign with her family and friends. Superimposed onto the photo is a post from Rowdy Gaines, who wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “This is so much bigger than ANY medal. Congrats Murph!!”

The sweet moment was captioned: “Step 1: Win an Olympic medal. Step 2: Find out you’re going to be a girl dad.”

In the past, Murphy credited his wife for his success, having noted in February that she was instrumental in his preparation for the Summer Games in Paris. In an interview with People, Murphy said: “I think she’s someone who definitely gets me just motivated about life. She’s super optimistic, and I think that’s just been really helpful for me in terms of my approach to the sport.”

After meeting while studying at The University of California, Berkeley, the pair tied the knot on September 30, 2023 at the Everline Resort & Spa in Olympic Valley near Lake Tahoe, California.

Murphy made his Olympic debut at the Rio 2016 games, winning the men’s 100m and 200m backstroke gold medals, and five years later at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he set a new world record when he helped Team USA win gold during the men’s 4x100m medley relay.

His seventh bronze medal made him one of the most decorated Olympic athletes of all time, having finished at 52.39 seconds after Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, who won the gold medal for swimming at 52 seconds flat, and China’s Jiayu Xu, who won silver for finishing at 52.32.