Between Olympic medal and “gender reveal”, the very beautiful evening of the American swimmer Ryan Murphy at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Having just won the bronze medal in the 100m backstroke on Monday evening, American swimmer Ryan Murphy also learned the sex of his unborn child thanks to a surprise from his wife.

Here is someone who had a wonderful evening, and who will undoubtedly remember these Olympic Games in Paris for the rest of his life. Ryan Murphy, American swimmer and four-time Olympic champion, is currently participating in his third Olympic Games, after Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021. On Monday, July 29, he competed in the final of the 100m backstroke, a discipline in which he was crowned Olympic champion in 2016.

First good news: he won bronze, in 52 seconds 39, just behind the Italian Thomas Ceccon and the Chinese Jiayu Xu. And it was while leaving the Paris La Défense Arena pool that the second very good news arrived. His pregnant wife Bridget then held up a sign with the words: “Ryan, she’s a girl” (“Ryan, it’s a girl”), as the official website of the Olympic Games puts it. A most original announcement, which did not fail to make the athlete react. “We can say that yesterday (Monday) was a good day”, he wrote on X a few hours later.

Images that went around the world, and which earned Ryan Murphy this comment from former American swimmer Rowdy Gaines: “It’s so much better than any medal”The US swimming team commented: “Step 1, win a medal; Step 2, find out you’re going to be the father of a girl.”