During his five years attending The Bolles School, three-time Olympic gold medalist Ryan Murphy never had the opportunity to hear any Olympians speak about their experiences while swimming on the biggest international stage. So when Bolles invited its most decorated Olympian to give a talk and hold an informal question-and-answer period with students Tuesday at a school auditorium, Murphy made sure he was at the top of his public relations game. There were no prepared remarks, just the 21-year-old Cal-Berkeley senior speaking openly about his time at Bolles and sudden rise to fame at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, Brazil. Though he captured gold medals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter backstrokes – and also set a world record during the USA gold medal 400-meter medley relay with a backstroke lead-off leg in 51.85 seconds – Murphy came across to 400 kids packing the auditorium as a normal guy instead of a bigger-than-life sports figure. “I want to do a lot to give back to the people who supported me and Bolles has been incredible for me,” said Murphy.
“I don’t think I would have been on that [Olympic] stage without Bolles. Being able to come back here and talk to some of the students and seeing how excited they were was really special to me. “I was engaging with them. I don’t want them to think of me as this big superstar. I’d rather them think of me as a nice guy, just a normal person they could talk to. I wanted to keep it light. I wanted to engage with them a little bit more than just having a free-form speech.” On that front, Murphy was gold. He took pictures with every student or faculty member who requested a photo, and also passed his three gold medals into the audience so kids could touch them. Murphy did his best work during a question-and-answer presentation. He had his audience laughing about having the “dumbest doping-control officer,” who escorted Murphy to three different places for a drug test on the day of an Olympic event because the officer couldn’t find the right place for him to provide a sample.
Murphy also acknowledged receiving some “demerits” at Bolles when a student asked him about it. In response to an inquiry about his Olympic experience in the athletes’ dorms, Murphy delighted in telling the story of how he and teammates celebrated after watching 35-year-old American swimmer Anthony Ervin win gold in the 50-meter freestyle. Murphy said he and U.S. teammates spontaneously started throwing “beanbag chairs” at each other, some of which “went flying off the balcony from the 20th floor.” In a follow-up session with the media, Murphy admitted it was tough to hit the reset button of getting back into a school and swimming routine upon returning home from Brazil. “It’s been a whirlwind,” said Murphy. “I still feel like I’m recovering from that experience, in terms of my excitement levels being really high when I think about what happened this summer. I almost feel sleep-deprived the entire semester, but somehow, I’m still up and running.
“There’s most definitely an Olympic hangover. I wasn’t motivated to get back in the pool when I came back. That didn’t come until we started training really hard. That’s when the natural competitiveness and natural motivation started to kick in. It probably wasn’t until October that I got into it fully.” Murphy, who carries a 3.56 grade point average in Cal’s College of Business and is scheduled to graduate in December, 2017, will be back competing December 2-4 at the Georgia Invite in Athens. In March, he will attempt to become only the third swimmer in history to sweep both backstroke events during all four years at the NCAA Championship. Despite Murphy’s triple gold-medal haul in Rio, he strongly believes he hasn’t reached a swimming peak. Murphy intends to keep competing in the Olympics, which resumes in Tokyo in 2020, for as long as possible. “I did really well [in the 2016 Olympics], but I definitely didn’t hit what I thought was my potential,” said Murphy.
“I feel like I still haven’t swam a great race in the 100 or 200 my entire career, so there’s definitely improvements for me to make. “That’s the addiction of swimming. You’re striving for perfection in a sport where it’s almost impossible to reach perfection.”GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Greenville police have identified a suspected drug trafficker who they shot with a bean bag round Tuesday afternoon. Leon Outerbridge, Jr., of New Bern, has been charged with eight counts of trafficking heroin, resisting a public officer, and maintaining a vehicle/dwelling/place for controlled substances. Police say Outerbridge was arrested in the parking lot of the Burger King on Charles Boulevard. As they were trying to take him into custody, police say Outerbridge tried to run toward Charles Boulevard. That's when an officer shot him with the bean bag round to keep him from getting into heavy traffic on the five-lane street. The man was not injured, and refused any EMS treatment, according to police.
Police say their investigation has been ongoing to several months and that Outerbridge is accused of trafficking heroin in both Craven and Pitt counties. The Greenville Regional Drug Task Force, New Bern Police Department, Craven County Sheriff's Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration were all part of that investigation. After a first court appearance this morning, a judge kept his bond at $2 million. Greenville police say they shot a bean bag round at a suspected drug trafficker to prevent that person from going out onto the roadway. It happened around 4 p.m. at the Burger King located at Charles Boulevard in Greenville. Police say drug task force officers were taking the suspect into custody when he attempted to run into traffic. The 40-year-old man was taken into custody. He refused EMS and was not injured. Details about the drug investigation have not yet been released. At FFO Home, you’ll find a great selection high quality and name brand living room furniture at our everyday low prices.