Editor’s Note: Ryan Murphy is No. 4 on the Times-Union’s Top 100 list of athletes from the Jacksonville area.
One week after collecting his third Olympic medal at the Paris Olympics and ninth overall of his stupendous career, Ryan Murphy had far more thoughts swimming through his head than after he flew home from Brazil in 2016 or Tokyo in 2021.
Put aside the fact his United flight to San Francisco arrived nine hours late Saturday, sitting on a runway in Paris for what seemed like forever.
For Murphy, ranked No. 4 on the Times-Union list of Greatest 100 Athletes from the Jacksonville area, life is about to get plenty busy. There won’t be much time to decompress from the biggest global sporting event this year because his plate has never been so full.
The Bolles School product is no longer just one of the greatest American backstrokers to ever stand on an Olympic podium. Or one of only four U.S. swimmers in history (Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Jenny Thompson) to take home three medals from three different Summer Games.