Search the phrase “Bobby Murphy and Michael Phelps” and the results lead not to a documented relationship between two public figures but to a Pinterest-generated topic tag. The label appears alongside Rio 2016 Olympic swimming photographs as an algorithmically created interest category — likely derived from a user’s board name — and has confused searchers ever since. The Bobby Murphy most widely known to the public is the co-founder and CTO of Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat. He has no documented connection to Michael Phelps or competitive swimming.
The swimmer in those Rio 2016 photos is Ryan Murphy, the American backstroke specialist who grew up idolizing Phelps and went on to race beside him in the most storied relay of the 2016 Games. That arc — from childhood fan to Olympic relay partner — is what the search is actually about.
The Kid With the Autograph and the Homemade Book
Ryan Fitzgerald Murphy was born on July 2, 1995, in Chicago, Illinois. His family — parents Pat and Katy, older sister Shannon, and older brother Patrick — moved to Jacksonville, Florida, in the spring of 1996. Katy enrolled all three children in swim lessons early. Ryan started at ten months old and, according to his mother, was swimming on his own by age two.
As a young boy, Murphy met Phelps at a swim event and nervously asked for his autograph. His family kept the photograph. Around the same age — seven, according to a First Coast News interview — Murphy made a handmade book as a school art project and dedicated it to his mother. On the last page he wrote, “I hope my swimming life continues. I hope to be an Olympian when I grow up.” He included a drawing of himself standing on a yellow circle meant to be a gold medal.
Both artifacts resurfaced years later when Murphy made the 2016 U.S. Olympic team, and NBC shared the childhood letter after his first gold-medal swim in Rio.
Bolles, Berkeley, and the Path to Rio
Murphy trained at Jacksonville’s Bolles School under head swim coach Sergio López Miró, an Olympic medalist and former world-record holder himself. After graduating from Bolles in 2013, Murphy swam for the University of California, Berkeley, under coach Dave Durden. He won the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke titles at every NCAA Championship from 2014 through 2017 — his 2016 times of 43.49 and 1:35.73 remain NCAA and American records. He earned a degree in business administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in 2017.
Murphy had narrowly missed the 2012 Olympic team at age sixteen, finishing fourth in the 200-meter backstroke at Trials. Four years later he won both backstroke events at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and secured his first Olympic berth.
Phelps’s Final Race
At the Rio 2016 Olympics, Murphy won individual gold in the 100-meter backstroke (51.97, an Olympic record) and the 200-meter backstroke (1:53.62). But the moment that permanently linked his name to Phelps’s came on August 13, 2016, in the 4×100-meter medley relay — the last swimming event of the Games and the final race of Phelps’s career.
Murphy led off on the backstroke leg. Cody Miller swam breaststroke, Phelps swam butterfly, and Nathan Adrian anchored on freestyle. The team won gold in 3:27.95, an Olympic record. Murphy’s opening split of 51.85 broke Aaron Peirsol’s world record from 2009 — a mark that still stands as the American record.
In a First Coast News interview, Murphy recalled Phelps gathering the four American swimmers in the ready room beforehand: “He was like, ‘Everybody come here.’ The USA guys huddled around, and we had our arms around each other. And he said, ‘You guys deserve to be here.’ And that’s all he said.” After the race, Phelps walked up and asked casually whether the split had been a world record. “Hell, yes, dude,” Murphy told him. “He was so casual, as if it’s another day at the office for him.”
A Bond That Continued After Phelps Retired
The relay gold forged a lasting connection. In a 2022 SwimSwam podcast, Murphy shared that Phelps had texted him after the World Championships in Budapest, where Murphy won individual gold in the 200-meter backstroke and silver in the 100-meter backstroke. Murphy’s 100-meter time of 51.97 came just 0.12 seconds off his personal best, though Italy’s Thomas Ceccon had broken Murphy’s world record earlier in the meet with a 51.60.
Murphy described the exchange matter-of-factly, but the gesture illustrated how the relay partnership had evolved into a genuine mentorship.
Tokyo, Paris, and Nine Olympic Medals
Murphy competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold in the 4×100-meter medley relay (setting a world record of 3:26.78 alongside Michael Andrew, Caeleb Dressel, and Zach Apple), silver in the 200-meter backstroke, and bronze in the 100-meter backstroke.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, he medaled in the 100-meter backstroke for a third consecutive Games, taking bronze in 52.39. That night, his wife Bridget Konttinen held up a handwritten sign from the stands that read “Ryan it’s a girl!” — revealing the sex of their first child on live television. Murphy also won silver in the men’s 4×100-meter medley relay and gold in the mixed 4×100-meter medley relay, where his backstroke leadoff helped set a world record.
His career total stands at nine Olympic medals: five gold, two silver, two bronze. Only six American male swimmers — among them Phelps, with 28 — have won more.
Family, Business, and a Possible Fourth Olympics
Murphy married Bridget Konttinen, a former Cal rower and his partner since 2016, on September 30, 2023, at Lake Tahoe. Their first daughter, Eevi Lillian Murphy, was born on January 24, 2025. Their second daughter, Eila Rae Murphy, was born on August 3, 2026.
In May 2025, Murphy announced he would not compete that summer, instead joining the growth equity team at Norwest Venture Partners in Menlo Park, California, where he focuses on investments in franchising, sports, and wellness. He and his family also co-own a Goldfish Swim School franchise in St. Johns, Florida, which opened in October 2024.
Murphy called the time away a “break from competition” but said he had “unfinished goals in the sport.” He resumed training in January 2026, and in a February 2026 interview on NBC Sports Bay Area’s Super Bowl Radio Row, he confirmed the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics are the target. “A home Olympics — I know I’d regret it if I tried to pass up that opportunity,” he said. His Instagram bio, updated after the birth of his second daughter, reads in part: “building toward LA 2028.”
Why “Bobby Murphy” Keeps Appearing
The Pinterest topic tag “Bobby Murphy And Michael Phelps” is not linked to any article, interview, or documented event. It functions as a Pinterest interest label attached to boards and pins containing Olympic swimming imagery from Rio 2016. Pinterest’s recommendation algorithm surfaces it as a “related interest” alongside tags like “Michael Phelps Goggles” and “Michael Phelps Body” — none of which represent real editorial topics. The tag has generated enough search volume to register as a query, but the content behind it consistently depicts Ryan Murphy, not anyone named Bobby.
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Sources: First Coast News | SwimSwam | Team USA | People | Norwest Venture Partners
