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USA SWIMMING 2018 PHILLIPS 66 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSJuly 24, 2018Ryan MurphyIrvine, California THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Ryan Murphy, three-time gold medalist two summers ago in Rio. World championship medalist as well. Ryan, maybe just walk us through your season at this point, how training has been going with your group there in Berkeley and what your expectations are for this week and moving forward. RYAN MURPHY: The season's been great. This has been my first full year as a pro. So not tapering in March was something that was different for me. But being able to get a whole year of training under my belt has been, I think, really beneficial. And if my practice performance is an indicator of what's to come here, then I'm pretty confident that I'm going to be doing well. And if it doesn't show up here it's going to show up at some point, and I'm excited for that to happen. Q. I think you capped off training this season at the OTC a few weeks ago. Can you kind of tell us how that specific training camp went for you and what you get out of going up to altitude that far out from Nationals? RYAN MURPHY: Absolutely. So we went up to OTC the latter half of June. So we were up there for two weeks. I ended up extending it for three more days, just because my brother was getting married. So it just made travelling a little easier. So going up there is great. At this time we're not trying to break down our bodies too much anymore. So going up there and just kind of keeping our normal routine is nice. Everything's a little bit harder because there's less oxygen. But coming down you feel great. And coming off that and going into the easier taper part of our season was super beneficial. And, yeah, we put in some good work and I'm excited to see how our guys do. Q. I want to ask you about 2017 Worlds. You went into it sweeping the backstroke at the Olympics, you got medals but not gold. Did you come out of those Worlds thinking anything different as far as your place among the world's best backstrokers? RYAN MURPHY: You know, I could probably throw out some stats or whatever to try to prove that I am. But I'm not going to go there. But definitely I think that was a little bit of a slap in the face. And you're coming off the Olympics, I achieved all my lifetime goals. Growing up I wanted to go to the Olympics, I wanted to win a gold medal and I wanted to break a world record. I did all those in 2016. Coming off that, I think it was pretty normal for my motivation to be lower. And you don't even realize it in the moment. You keep on convincing yourself -- you're like, I'm 100 percent locked in, I'm doing everything right. But as I moved through that year and getting into this year, you know, for me, kind of once it hit January 1, 2018, that's when the switch flipped for me. And now it's, like, we're building again, we're building towards 2020. And so I feel like my motivation's back now. That was definitely good because I'm hypercompetitive, so getting beat in the 100, getting beat in the 200 didn't feel great. And that's motivated me this year and it's going to continue to motivate me. Q. Do you have like a reminder you can go to for extra motivation from what happened there? Do you watch the races? Do you have pictures or anything like that that you can go to, you want to go to? RYAN MURPHY: No, I've got a great memory, though. So I think it's really like, what I remember is going into the media zone and having David there and he feels awkward asking me questions. I remember the look on his face. So that's something that sticks with me. And then I can think back to the finish of the 100 back, and I look up and I see third by my name. And then I remember the exact look on Xi Jiayu's face when I looked at him. So, yeah, those are images that I don't need a physical picture of that I remember. Q. What was your reaction yesterday when you heard the news about Ryan Lochte? Will it seem strange that he's not here? And how did that revelation make you feel? RYAN MURPHY: It's a big bummer. Lochte has been around for so long. And I'm honestly pretty used to seeing him on deck. So the fact that he's not here is a huge bummer for the U.S. and for him. But as he said, he's still committed to training towards 2020, and I take him at his word on that. So that's where it matters. And the fact that he will be there, I think that's a great thing for us. Q. It's a strange kind of situation, isn't it, because it's not a positive test? It's found guilty of using a drip or whatever. What are your thoughts on that? Is it different in your mind? Do you see something like that as being very different to someone who took a banned substance? Or is it just you broke the rules and you deserve the punishment? How do you see that whole process? RYAN MURPHY: I mean, everyone's operating under the same rules. And I think that having a rule like that, while in this case I don't think it caught a cheater, per se. I think in 99 percent of the cases it would. So I think there's rules like this that we need to have in our sport and in all sports in order to ensure that it's clean. Q. Is it strange the way it came out, basically a social media post? If it hadn't been for that it probably wouldn't have gotten uncovered at all. Kind of a strange situation all around. RYAN MURPHY: Totally. I agree. Q. Since we're on the topic of bans, how did you guys react, you and anyone else, to the news about Madison last week? RYAN MURPHY: I was in shock when I saw the news. It is a huge bummer, as Madison's a friend of mine. So I feel terrible for her. I don't know all the details on the situation, so I can't really comment too much further on that. But I'm definitely hurting for her. And it's really sad to see one of our own go down like that. Q. You mentioned -- I don't know if you want to maybe give this a yes/no -- but you mentioned you don't consider Ryan a cheater for his situation. Would you say that about her based on what you know or do you not know enough to give an answer? RYAN MURPHY: I honestly don't know enough about the situation. Honestly, I couldn't even name the substance. So, yeah, I just got a notification and that's kind of the extent of my research on that. Q. Swimming-related question now. What are the little things you've been pinpointing in training that maybe weren't there last year, like some specific things that have been more of a focus this year than last year? RYAN MURPHY: I think it's just the day-in, day-out grind. We really stepped up in training this year. So being able to come into practice every day and actually have focus in my stroke. So that's always evolving. I'm constantly trying to get better. So that's different month to month. So I would say, like, currently on backstroke, just trying to be smooth through my breakout, have good body position, try to swim straight. So that's kind of where I'm at. Q. I'm curious, when you get notifications like this and you see the news of Madisyn (Cox) or you hear about what happened to Ryan, as a member of the team and knowing how people outside the U.S. might look at these two things, how does it make you feel? Do you get angry? Do you understand? What are your emotions when you see that happening, even giving the circumstances that both of those cases have? RYAN MURPHY: Yeah, it is tough. You know in the case of Ryan, Ryan was always someone I looked up to. I grew up in Jacksonville. He grew up in Daytona, went to school in Gainesville. I saw him all the time growing up. So that guy's an idol for me. So it's really tough to see him go through that. But what I think of is more on the personal side. How does that affect him? How does that affect his wife, his kid? So that's kind of what I'm thinking about there. It's similar with Madisyn. I'm good friends with Madisyn. So how does that impact her career? Hopefully she continues to stick with the sport. But I don't know. I don't know if she's going to. So I'm more thinking about the personal side of those cases. Q. In the post-Michael Phelps era, given that, what would you say is the most impressive accomplishment: Breaking a world record at the Olympics; sweeping the IMs at a World Championships; or winning seven gold medals in the World Championships? RYAN MURPHY: I'm not going to try to compare me to Chase, to Caleb there. I think all of us have done great things thus far in our career. But I think what's really cool about all three of us is that we're very early in our careers and the sky's the limit for where we can go. I've never been someone where I want to get competitive across events. I'm competitive enough with the backstrokers that if I tried to move over and see if I'm better than Chase it would just drive me crazy. But they're both great talents, and super excited to see what they do this summer and going forward to 2020. Q. You're swimming backstroke outside here. That makes a little bit of a difference maybe a little less at night. How do you adjust to that and how do you think it impacts and the racing and the times here? RYAN MURPHY: Who knows? We'll see. If someone crashes into the lane line, then obviously it affects their time. But if they're swimming perfectly straight it doesn't matter. I know for me I have to make adjustments in my stroke in order to spot myself in the lane. So I do think it slows me down a little bit. But everyone's dealing with it so it's an even playing field. Q. Speaking of young careers, I think you posted about it on social media. But you, Joe (Schooling) and Caeleb (Dressel) were both teammates now you're Speedo teammates. What's that like? RYAN MURPHY: It's super cool. Like me and Caeleb started swimming in the same summer league. So no joke, I would break the 8-and-under records, and then the next year Caleb would come up and then he would break all of them in backstroke. So it's super cool to like see two -- I'm speaking mostly on Caleb right now -- but two kids coming from Jacksonville, from the same area growing up and getting to this stage. It's a really interesting and cool accomplishment. And then Joseph, Joseph came to Bolles his eighth-grade year, and I lined up next to him every single day we were at Bolles together. So just seeing that guy, I've literally never met anyone more competitive than Joseph. So it was awesome to see what he did in 2016. And I know he's keeping his eye towards 2020. And I have no doubt that he'll be great come 2020. Q. Speaking more about Bolles. What's in the water, what was in the water 10 years ago? Why are we seeing this? RYAN MURPHY: I mean, I think it comes from the top-down. So Sergio (Lopez) and his assistants -- Jason, John, Christian -- they all were on the same page. I think what Sergio did was he exposed us to a lot of different types of training. He did that on purpose. Joseph, Caleb and I all went to different types of schools in the way we trained. And we were all prepared to do so. And I think that was because of the way Sergio structured his program. But then also he really helped us on the mental side. So as a 15-, 16-, 17-year-old kid, you don't necessarily go into a final and think you can compete with Ryan Lochte or Phelps, but that's really what Sergio was trying to get us to do. Like I remember going into 2012, he sat me and Joseph down and was like, Ryan, I think you can go to the Olympics. I was a 16-year-old. So I didn't believe him when he said that. I'm, like, Sergio is full of crap. And he was, like, Joseph, I think you could final at the Olympics, because he was already slated to go for Singapore. So just getting us to think like that, that we were on that level, was, I think, super important. And then just having guys around you every day that you can go at. I think one of the biggest things I see when kids come into Cal is everyone comes in and they were the best kid at whatever club team they were at. They don't know how to lose. And, like, if we were having a bad day we were getting smoked by the guy in the lane next to us. So learning how to lose at a young age was, I think, super beneficial, too, and learning how to deal with that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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