Ryan Murphy Biography

American backstroker Ryan Murphy won three swimming gold medals in the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro.

Raised in Florida, Ryan Murphy had a successful prep school career swimming at the Boles School in Jacksonville, Florida, graduating in 2013. He didn’t qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team in 2012, but once in college at the University of California at Berkeley, Murphy improved and wound up with six NCAA titles, winning the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

That set him up for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where he won the gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke, the 200-meter backstroke, and the 4×100-meter relay. He broke the world record for the 100-meter backstroke with his 51.85 split time in the 4×100-meter relay.