“He brought so many people into the sport” – Ryan Murphy on texting Michael Phelps after 2022 World Championships
Ryan Murphy, a six-time Olympic medalist, is one of the top American backstroke swimmers. He served as one of Team USA's four Olympic swim team captains in Tokyo.
Speaking with SwimSwam a few months ago, Ryan Murphy disclosed that Michael Phelps texted him after he won the 200-meter backstroke at the World Championships. He said,
"I was texting Phelps, texted me after the meet, which I was pumped up. About Phelps, [he] doesn't normally text me but he texted me and I was talking to him about it. It's just like the talent and I think it's kind of due to a guy like Phelps, he brought so many people into the sport and these guys are huge."
Ryan Murphy received Michael Phelps' text
At the start of the podcast, Ryan Murphy addressed "the man, the myth, and the legend." He was asked various things about his career, racing with Thomas Ceccon, and more.
Murphy was asked about his performance and how he analyzed it over the years. He credited his brother Patrick for providing him with the stats, saying,
"I get all these stats from my brother so my brother, [he] is a data analyst. He was, I mean, he's potentially the smartest guy I know. He went to Notre Dame, he was a double major in applied math and finance, got his master's in data analytics and machine learning. So Patrick's always keeping me up to date with the stats."
Ryan Murphy was then asked if after winning the world championship, he should have won individual gold at the Tokyo Olympics too but he lost the 200-meter backstroke. He said the new guys are way too good and are quite competitive.
When asked about racing with Thomas Ceccon, who swam 51.6, and how he felt when Ceccon beat him, he said,
"I kind of knew. You'd never want to count anyone out in the heat and you definitely don't want to focus on just one person. But I mean, Thomas is for someone like me. Where like I could see talent if I watch someone for like three seconds swimming, I can see a lot of their talent."
He went on to praise Thomas Ceccon, calling him a beast. Even after losing to him by just 0.3 seconds, he was not very disappointed, saying,
"You can see it with Thomas. I mean, he is a beast. Um, so I knew he was going to be really good, but there was no shortage of talent in any of the other lanes in that heat either. So, it was definitely one of those scenarios where like going in it's like, I'm gonna, I'm really putting pressure on myself to execute the best race strategy for me."
Recently at the short-course world championships in Melbourne, Australia, Ryan Murphy completed his triple and became the first person, male or female, to win all three backstroke events.