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It was quite a Monday for American swimmer Ryan Murphy.
First, he won bronze in the 100-meter backstroke and claimed a medal for the third straight Olympics.
Later, as Murphy was celebrating his seventh career Olympic medal, he looked up into the stands at Paris La Défense Arena to see his wife, Bridget Konttinen, holding a sign that read, "Ryan, it's a girl," alerting him to the gender of the couple's child, which is due in January.
"We had been guessing for a couple weeks now what the gender was gonna be, so that was a great way to find out," Murphy said afterward. "I think that just kind of like lit me up and really brought this night to a whole-'nother level."
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"We both — we honestly both thought it was going to be a boy. And everyone — like everyone — we were talking to, they thought it was going to be a boy."
Murphy is a Jacksonville, Florida native and a big Jaguars fan. He noted that quarterback Trevor Lawrence and his wife, Marissa Mowry, are also expecting a girl and joked that he hopes their daughters can be friends.
As he prepares to experience fatherhood for the first time, Murphy said that his daughter's arrival will change what he prioritizes in life.
"It's really exciting to learn that I'm going to be a girl dad," Murphy said. "Up to this point swimming has been the most important thing in my life. Every major decision in my life has been made with swimming in mind. That's going to change. Everything is going to be dedicated to that little girl."
Murphy, who won three gold medals at Rio 2016, and gold, silver and a bronze at Tokyo 2021, nearly added another gold in the event after finishing at 52.39 seconds, just behind Italy's Thomas Ceccon, who won with a time of 52 seconds flat, and silver medallist, China's Xu Jiayu, who swam in 52.32.
Murphy will get an opportunity to add an eighth Olympic medal later this week in the 200-meter backstroke.
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