Watch as Ryan Murphy wins bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke final. Thomas Ceccon of Italy won gold and Jiayu Xu of China won silver.
Ryan Murphy may have scored an Olympic medal Monday, but even that didn't compare to the surprise the swimmer received at the competition.
Images on social media appeared to show Murphy's wife and family in the stands holding a sign with a big announcement.
"Ryan, it's a girl!" the sign read.
The image was posted by three-time Olympic gold medalist and now-commentator Rowdy Gaines.
"This is so much bigger than ANY medal. Congrats Murph!!" he wrote.
His mom, Katy Murphy, replied to the tweet with a heart emoji.
Images showed Murphy hugging his wife in the stands shortly after his performance.
The news came as Murphy, a Palos Heights native, scored bronze in the men's 100-meter backstroke.
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Murphy is aiming to do something no other male swimmer has ever done in the Olympics. He is trying to become the first male swimmer to win medals in three consecutive Olympics in both the 100m backstroke and the 200m backstroke.
In order to do it, he needed the medal Monday, which was a historic feat in and of itself.
Murphy's three-peat in the men's 100-meter backstroke makes him the first man to win a medal in the event in three straight Olympics since 1972. He won bronze in 2021 and gold in 2016.
If he wins a medal in the 200-meter later on in the Games, that would be another three-peat and a first in Olympics history — a goal Murphy entered the Olympics chasing.
Murphy now has seven total medals stretched across three Olympics.
He’ll start his road toward getting into the 200m backstroke final with his preliminary heat race on Wednesday, with the starting gun scheduled to be fired at 4:33 a.m. CT.
