Ryan Murphy and Michael Phelps were the top swimmers for Team USA in the 2016 Summer Olympics, where Murphy won three gold medals, while Phelps won five gold and one silver. But with the Tokyo games coming this summer, Murphy is looked at as the one to lead Team USA to another dominant performance since Phelps has retired. PopCulture.com recently caught up with Murphy, and he revealed the advice Phelps gave him head of the Olympics.
“He’s an awesome guy and I really appreciate that he’s leaned into this role as being a mentor for a lot of us, a lot of us younger guys,” Murphy told PopCulture of Phelps. “It’s really not like… Nothing profound that he has told me; it’s really like, ‘Your journey is going to be your journey.’ I can’t do things the same way that Phelps did, and he probably wouldn’t have done things the same way that I do, but those each individual ways, they worked for us. […] I don’t want to overthink it. I just want to keep on doing what I’ve been doing to be really good, and that’s what I’m going to keep on doing as we get close to the Olympics.”
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Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all time, winning 28 medals in four different Summer Olympics. Murphy is on track to being a very decorated Olympian with three medals, but winning gold this summer is the priority.
“I had such an incredible experience my first time around in Rio, and this time around has been awesome in its own right,” Murphy explained. “I have so many people around me that are pushing me to be my best, and that’s coaches and teammates and they even extended it to the sponsor. They’re allowing me to focus on what I really love to do, which is swimming really fast.”
With Murphy only being 25 years old, he is still in the prime of his career. But he would love to be part of Team USA when the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028. “I love the challenge of trying to get better,” he stated. “The second I don’t enjoy that challenge is when I’ll be done. So as long as I’m loving it, I’m going to do it. It’s feasible financially right now. All of those things are considerations. I do think that at some point, I want to utilize my business degree from Berkeley and do some cool stuff in that field. But for now, I’m really loving swimming, and I’m definitely not ruling out the possibility of trying to go for 2028.”
