When Ryan Murphy steps onto the starting line at the U.S. Olympic Trials on Sunday to begin another bid for a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, one of the world's top swimmers won't be fixated on a quest for revenge.
After winning individual gold medals in the 100m and 200m backstroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics and having to settle for bronze and silver respectively at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, Murphy isn't looking to bounce back.
The Boles School graduate wishes he could have won the race in Tokyo, beating Russia's Evgeny Rylov, but the only thing driving him is the desire to compete at the highest level, regardless of the circumstances.
“I've competed in every tournament and as long as I'm happy with the effort and focus I put in, I can say I maximized my potential in every tournament,” Murphy told the Times Union in an interview in May.
“I'm someone who has never had a hard time staying motivated, so I don't need a picture of Rylov on my wall to help me prepare. I definitely want to win these Olympics. I think it's possible. That's all I'm training for.”
Big Splash:See the complete pack of Northeast Florida swim teams heading into the U.S. Olympic Trials
For Murphy, the first big step toward that goal is to qualify for a third Olympic Games in the backstroke, which would mean finishing in the top two in both the 100 and 200 meters at the Trials next week at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.
Before Rylov won both backstroke events in Tokyo, the United States had won every Olympic gold medal in those events since 1992. Murphy turns 29 on July 2, but many feel he remains the favorite to win an Olympic medal because of his intense preparation and attention to detail.
Murphy is the oldest American to ever swim the 200 backstroke at an Olympic Games, but that experience could be a needed advantage at the high-pressure trials: Her world-record personal best of 1:53.57, set at the 2018 Pan Pacific, was two seconds faster than any other American at the trials.
Among the six contenders who could stop Murphy from winning a third consecutive Olympic medal are two athletes from the same UC program — Destin Rasko and Keaton Jones — as well as 200m runner Jack Akins. Rasko and UC alum Hunter Armstrong, who placed second to Murphy at the 2021 Trials, could be Murphy's toughest rivals in the event.
“The backstroke is probably the most competitive of the men's events,” Murphy said. “The U.S. has four swimmers who can make the Olympic finals, but only two of us make the finals.”
Take a different approach
Murphy and all the swimmers faced unexpected challenges when the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the Tokyo Olympics for a year to 2021, changing training cycles and forcing athletes to hit the reset button.
David Darden, who coached Murphy at the University of California and remains his personal coach, strongly suggested that his top backstroker might have won the gold medal had the Olympics not been suspended.
“He’s one of those athletes that would be a totally different story if the Olympics were held in 2020,” Durden said of Murphy in a phone interview. “With the ongoing pandemic in our area, opportunities to get in the pool have been limited.
“When other teams around the country were racing again, it felt like our team took a long time to get back. [training] normal. ”
Murphy acknowledged that having to pivot from his usual preparation just four months before the Tokyo Olympics had been tough but rejected the excuse that the schedules of swimmers around the world had changed.
Still, he learned valuable training lessons from the situation and is applying them heading into the trials.
“I focused a little too much on fitness in 2020 and '21,” Murphy said, “and it got pretty draining and I just couldn't recover from that. I focused a lot on fitness last fall and trained a lot, and it's helping me now.”
“I'm trying to gauge how hard I'm pushing my body.
“I think my mind is better able to process information and handle pressure than it's ever been before. I'm optimistic. I think I'm in a good place. This is probably my best year of training ever, but I still have to do it on the day.” [of competition]. ”
Swimming's future remains uncertain
Murphy's life underwent a major change in September when he married his longtime girlfriend, Bridget, a former University of California rower whom he met during his sophomore year of college.
Bridget, a former creative producer at Nike who now works for a marketing analytics company, has been working alongside Ryan on his pre-Olympic preparation routine, and Ryan credits her for being his main support system.
“Being married to an Olympic athlete is no easy feat,” Murphy says. “The biggest difference is that we're both more committed to our goals than ever before.”
“I probably spend 25 hours a week swimming and weightlifting and another 25 hours recovering, doing yoga and physical therapy and sitting around in compression pants. That's not time to cuddle with her on the couch.”
It remains unclear how long Murphy intends to keep pushing himself for Olympic glory.
The financial benefits of being a great swimmer have become hugely lucrative, especially since Michael Phelps raised the bar.
But Murphy is pursuing other hobbies: His family is preparing to open Goldfish Swim School in St. Johns County next month, to be run by his parents, Patrick and Katie, of Ponte Vedra Beach.
Ryan plans to stay actively involved in swimming lessons in the future, but how involved he is will depend on how long he plans to continue chasing Olympic gold. With the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028, he might be tempted to give it another go.
“I wouldn't say I'm 100 percent committed, but I'm leaning toward swimming in LA,” Murphy said.
For now, if all goes well at the trials, he'll have a chance to add to his impressive swimming record of six Olympic medals (four gold, one silver and one bronze) and 17 world championship medals.
“Ryan is reaching that rare level as a backstroker that Aaron Peirsol has held for so many years,” Darden said. “Ryan has checked all the boxes in terms of preparation. We just need to get him behind the blocks and get him competing.”
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; follow @genefrenette on X (old Twitter)
