Ted Murphy '94 won the silver medal in pairs rowing for the U.S. at the Sydney Olympics Saturday.
Murphy and partner Sebastian Bea finished just behind the French team of Michael Andrieux and Jean-Christophe Rolland by 83 seconds. The Australian team of James Tomkins and Matthew Long won the bronze, finishing 46 seconds behind the Americans.
This was Murphy's second trip to the Olympic Games. In 1996 Murphy competed in rowing with Anne Kakela '92.
While the all-Dartmouth team finished a respectable fifth overall in Atlanta, Murphy said his performance in 1996 lacked luster.
"Fifth in '96 was a huge disappointment for me," Murphy told the Boston Herald. "It took a long time to get over it and really want to come back and do this. But there was definitely unfinished business.
"The silver is going to go a long way toward remedying that," he added. "It might even do the whole job."
An Olympic rowing medal was far from Murphy's mind when he came to Dartmouth. Standing tall at 6'6", Murphy came to the Hanover plain lacking competitive rowing experience and with the intention of playing basketball as a walk on.
After he was invited to try out for rowing, Murphy decided to join the team. He first competed in sprints -- a competition to get the fastest time over a short distance.
After experiencing success at that, he moved onto the varsity heavyweight boat where he helped the Big Green to win the IRA Regatta 1992. That same year the team barely lost to Harvard at the National Championships.
From then on, Murphy only got better. The next summer he was invited to compete in the U.S. pre-Elite camp. He beat everyone there, including former Olympians, and was asked to move up to the Elite level.
"It didn't hurt that the Elite coach was standing behind me during the test," Murphy told a reporter. "I guess I was in the right place at the right time."
Fate or not, Murphy was good, and others noticed. After graduation, Murphy went to San Diego to join the prestigious national team, where he trained 8-10 hours a day with 14 others to prepare for international competitions.
Ultimately, all of the work has paid off for Murphy.
"Absolutely, this is why I came back," he said of his silver medal.
