Ryan Murphy is an Olympic medalist again — and ready to be a girl dad.
The swimmer’s wife, Bridget Konttinen Murphy, surprised him after his third-place finish in the 100-meter backstroke race on July 29 by holding up a sign in the crowd at Paris’ La Defense arena. The message? “Ryan it’s a girl.”
Bridget is pregnant with the couple’s first child, which, as he now knows along with the rest of the world, is a girl. The headline-making moment really was the first time Ryan, 29, found out his baby’s sex, his mother, Katy Murphy, tells PEOPLE.
“The little reveal…was a very last minute that the decision was made,” Katy says while attending a Speedo event for Olympian’s families in Paris on July 31. Explains the proud grandma-to-be, “She had this idea and she ran it by all of us and we were like, ‘Heck, yeah, you guys were just waiting to open that little slip of paper’ and, yeah, and that’s, that’s how it all happened.”
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Bridget also wrote on Instagram on July 31 that the reveal moment was somewhat spontaneous: “P.S. My rogue sister @olikonttinen thought of this idea 24 hrs prior😂.”
To Ryan, whom she wed last year, she added, “Of all the medals you’ve won in your career, this one is by far the most special. Our biggest dream come true.”
It’s double the joy for Katy, who notes that Ryan’s sister Shannon is also pregnant with a baby girl, due this fall.
“When we learned another girl, like girl cousins, they’ll be like sisters,” says Katy. “It’s just too good to be true. I’m so excited.”
Katy says she only found out the couple were expecting last Thursday, when Ryan and Bridget FaceTimed to share the news. “We were about to get out of our plane and that’s when we learned that she was pregnant,” Katy tells PEOPLE.
It’s been an honor, Katy says, to watch her son continue to succeed going into his third Olympics. Murphy is now a seven-time Olympic medalist — which has Katy reflecting back on his first Games in Rio in 2016.
“When I think back to that little 2016 swimmer, who was 20, turning 21. He was just a baby and it was bright lights,” says Katy. Now, she says, he’s a “leader” for U.S. Swimming.
“When the families of young swimmers come up and say how great Ryan’s been to their child and how he’s a mentor . . . That’s what brings tears to my eyes,”
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