We are only a few days in, but the Paris 2024 Olympics have already given us so much — from Snoop Dogg in a Simone Biles T-shirt to pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik going viral. Now, we can add a whole Olympic “gender reveal” to the list, courtesy of Team USA swimmer Ryan Murphy.
On Monday, July 29, 2024, Ryan Murphy competed in the 100-meter backstroke final at the Paris La Defense Arena, finishing third and scoring the bronze medal for Team USA only behind Italy’s Thomas Ceccon and China’s Xu Jiayu.
While earning the bronze was already momentous for Murphy, the situation became even more memorable when his wife, Bridget Konttinen, announced the sex of the baby they are expecting together as he received his medal. As Murphy was getting ready for his victory lap, Konttinen, who had been supporting from the stands, held up a sign that read: "Ryan, it's a girl!"
"I was walking back around, and Bridget was holding up a sign, and it said, 'Ryan, it's a girl,' " Murphy said, according to the Associated Press, admitting the pair both thought “it was going to be a boy.”
Team USA and the USA Swimming's official Instagram pages commemorated the big moment by posting a photo of Konttinen and Murphy’s family members holding up the sign. “Step 1: Win an Olympic medal. Step 2: Find out you’re going to be a girl dad 🥹🎀,” the caption read.
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Murphy and Konttinen tied the knot in September 2023 in a ceremony held in Lake Tahoe. Ahead of the Olympics, Konttinen took to Instagram to pen a heartfelt letter for her husband, writing, “Third Olympic Games locked in. This man blows me away. Consistently reaching this stage over 12 years — it’s hard to comprehend what that takes mentally and physically. He makes it look effortless when it’s really hours of unseen work, an unshakable mindset under pressure, and a strategic intellect that honestly scares me sometimes. I’m so grateful to be by your side through all of it. So in awe of you.”
Murphy's bronze medal at the Paris Olympics is his seventh overall, but, hey, it's definitely the first one to come with a “gender reveal.”
