Gender Reveal, Engagements Add to Olympic Magic: ‘Paris Is Always a Good Idea’

How about a bouncing baby girl to go with that medal?

After Team USA swimmer Ryan Murphy, 29, won bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke Monday, his ear-to-ear smile may have been from the sign his wife was holding up from the stands.

Murphy, a seven-time Olympic medalist, and his wife, Bridget Konttinen, are expecting a child in January. Konttinen held up a sign after the medal ceremony at Paris’ La Defense Arena to announce to her husband that they’re having a girl.

“So when I was walking back around, Bridget was holding up a sign and it said, ‘Ryan, it’s a girl!’ So that was Bridget’s gender reveal to me,” Murphy told reporters, adding that it was the first time he “heard the gender.”

TV cameras captured Murphy hugging his wife in the stands shortly after his swim.

“We honestly both thought it was going to be a boy and everyone we were talking to thought it was going to be a boy,” Murphy said. “So that’s really, really exciting, that we’re going to have a baby and it’s going to be a girl.”

Murphy has a chance to make swimming history by becoming the first male swimmer to win medals in three consecutive Olympics in both the 100m and 200m backstroke events.

But even if doesn’t medal again, Murphy’s Olympic story is already unforgettable. He’s one of several athletes in Paris to make news off the field and out of the pool, with the the City of Love serving as a picture-perfect backdrop for a major personal announcement.

The romance of Paris is rubbing off for others as well, with a pair of athletes from Argentina‘s delegation getting engaged ahead of the Opening Ceremony.

As Team Argentina gathered for a group photo on Friday, the handball player Pablo Simonet popped the question to his girlfriend, the hockey player Maria Campoy, as their teammates cheered them on.

Simonet and Campoy have been together since 2015 and competed in Rio in 2016, according to their online Olympic bios.

U.S. swimmer Lilly King also scored a ring even before the Olympic rings were hoisted onto the Eiffel Tower, after her longtime boyfriend proposed to her at the U.S. Olympic trials last month. When she came in second in the 200m breaststroke final in Indianapolis, King met boyfriend James Wells on the pool deck.

“Oh my god,” King said as Wells went down on one knee, before exclaiming: “Yes, yes!”

Wells told NBC that since the trials were in King’s home state it was a “perfect opportunity” for a proposal.

“It means so much for her to be here in front of this crowd,” he said.

King, who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, came in fourth in the 100m breaststroke in Paris. If she qualifies Wednesday, she will compete in the finals for the 200m breaststroke the following day.

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