Ryan Fitzgerald Murphy (born July 2, 1995) is an American competitive swimmer specializing in backstroke. He is a five-time Olympic gold medalist and the former world-record holder in the men's 100-meter backstroke.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Murphy swept the backstroke events, winning gold medals in both the 100- and 200-meter backstroke races.Ryan Murphy: Tonight felt like my night (Video). Swimswam.com (June 28, 2016). Retrieved August 12, 2016. 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 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.Omega Timing; Atos (August 1, 2021). "Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: Swimming Results Book" . International Olympic Committee. Retrieved August 4, 2021.

Early life and education Murphy began dreaming of competing at the Olympic Games when he was seven years old."Meet the star rookies of the 2016 USA Olympic Swim Team". CBS News. August 5, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2021.

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.NCAA Division I Men's Championships: Ryan Murphy Cracks Ryan Lochte American Record in 200 Back – Swimming World News. Swimmingworldmagazine.com. Retrieved August 12, 2016.

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,Ryan Murphy Lowers Yesterday’S 100 Backstroke NAG Record on Day 2 of NCAA’s. Swimswam.com (March 28, 2014). Retrieved March 26, 2018. and his 200-yard backstroke time of 1:37.23 broke both Tyler Clary's NCAA record and the 17–18 NAG record.Ryan Murphy Re-breaks His 200 Backstroke NAG Record at the NCAA Championships. Swimswam.com (March 29, 2014). Retrieved March 26, 2018. 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.Ryan Murphy Breaks Ryan Lochte's 200 Back American Record To Repeat As NCAA Champion. Swimswam.com (March 28, 2015). Retrieved August 12, 2016. 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.Video: 2015 CSCAA Men's Awards Swimswam.com (March 29, 2015). Retrieved March 26, 2018.

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.Murphy, Schooling, Dressel tie for CSCAA'S 2016 Swimmer of Year Award. Swimswam.com (March 26th, 2016). Retrieved on March 26, 2018.

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."Everything you need to know about Olympic gold-medal swimmer Ryan Murphy". NBC Sports. February 25, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2021. 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."Rio Olympics 2016: Michael Phelps bows out of Games with gold in men's relay". BBC Sport. August 14, 2016."The stars of Rio 2016". International Olympic Committee. August 29, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2021. Murphy's win in the 100-meter backstroke, with a time of 51.97 seconds, set a new Olympic record for the event."Ryan Murphy extends U.S. gold streak in 100 backstroke to 6". ESPN. August 8, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2021.Freeman, Clayton (August 8, 2016). "Bolles School grad Ryan Murphy wins gold in 100 back". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved September 18, 2021. 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.

2017 NCAA Championships 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).Ryan Murphy: "This was the Best Four Years of My Life" (Video) Swimswam.com (March 25, 2017). Retrieved March 26, 2018. 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."Pan Pacific Swimming Championships 2018: Total Ranking". Seiko. August 9–12, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2021. 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.Freeman, Clayton (August 12, 2018). "Murphy, Dressel finish Pan-Pacific swimming with gold". The Florida Times-Union. Retrieved September 22, 2021. 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. Murphy opened up to Reuters after his success at the Championships, expressing he hoped that swimming in a pool close to where swimming competitions for the 2020 Summer Olympics would be held would help quell his superstitions concerning his performance at the upcoming Olympic Games.Tarrant, Jack (August 12, 2018). "Swimming-Superstitious Murphy hoping for good Tokyo omens". Reuters. Retrieved September 22, 2021.

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."2018 Golden Goggle Award Nominees". USA Swimming. September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2021.Ross, Andy (September 26, 2018). "USA Swimming Announces 2018 Golden Goggles Nominees". Swimming World. Retrieved October 2, 2021. In total, he won all three awards for which he received nominations."Katie Ledecky and Ryan Murphy win Golden Goggles awards". Olympics.com. November 20, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2021.

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."14th FINA World Swimming Championships December 11 – 16, 2018: Results Book". Omega Timing. December 16, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2021.

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."18th FINA World Championships 12 – 28 July 2019: Results Book". Omega Timing. July 28, 2019. Retrieved June 16, 2021.

2021 2020 US Olympic Trials