Ross Murdoch (born 14 January 1994) is a Scottish competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who has represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics in 2016 and 2020, the FINA World Championships and the LEN European Championships, and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games from 2014 to the present. Between 2014 and 2016, Murdoch became a World, European and Commonwealth champion.https://www.britishswimming.org/athlete-swimming-profiles/british-swimming-profiles/ross-murdoch/ Murdoch rose to prominence when he won the gold medal in the 200 metre breaststroke at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, beating favourite, Olympic silver medalist and fellow Scot

Michael Jamieson Michael Jamieson (born 5 August 1988) is a Scottish former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain at the Olympics, FINA world championships and European championships, and Scotland in the Commonwealth Games. Jamieson won the silver ...

. In 2015, he formed part of the Great Britain squad that won gold in the mixed 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the

2015 World Aquatics Championships The 16th FINA World Aquatics Championships, FINA World Championships (russian: Чемпионат мира по водным видам спорта 2015), also Aquatics 2015, were held in Kazan, Russia from 24 July to 9 August 2015. Russia host ...

, swimming in the qualifying heats, and adding a relay world title to the individual bronze won days earlier in the men's 100 metre breaststroke behind teammate

Adam Peaty Adam George Peaty (born 28 December 1994) is an English competitive swimmer who specialises in the breaststroke. He won the gold medal in the 100 metre breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the first by a male British swimmer in 24 years, ...

. In 2016, he qualified for the 100m breaststroke for the Great Britain team in the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. In the same year, he won his first European title with a gold medal in the 200 metre breaststroke, also picking up a silver medal in the 100 metre breaststroke silver medal behind teammate

and a bronze medal in the 50 metre breaststroke.

Swimming career

Ross' first notable performance was in the 200 m breaststroke final at the British Gas Swimming Championships 2012 where he achieved a seven-second personal best at the

London Aquatics Centre The London Aquatics Centre is an indoor facility with two swimming pools and a diving pool in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. The centre, designed by architect Zaha Hadid as one of the main venues of the 2012 Summer Olymp ...

. In 2013, Ross made his senior international debut at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, in which he placed 30th in the 50 m breaststroke in 28.00 and advanced to the semi-finals in the 100 m breaststroke, placing 11th in 1:00.07. Ross was also selected for the British 4×100 m Medley Relay which came 9th in the

Championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. In 2014 Ross had international success with Gold in Austin Grand Prix for both the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke as well as taking Gold in the 100 m breaststroke in the Flanders Speedo Cup, receiving the award for top male swimmer due to achieving the highest number of FINA points. In the Scottish National Championships and Commonwealth Trials, Ross picked up two Golds and a Silver medal, achieving a Scottish record in the 100 m of 59.75 which he since improved to 59.56 at the British Championships 2014. In 2015, he claimed the bronze medal in the 100m breaststroke, placing third behind fellow British teammate Adam Peaty and South African Cameron Van Der Burgh with a time of 59.09. He is currently coached by Ben Higson, although predominantly coached by Jimmy Orr of West Dunbartonshire through his youth and is mentored by

Rebecca Adlington Rebecca Adlington (born 17 February 1989) is a British former competitive swimmer who specialised in freestyle events in international competition. She won two gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 400-metre freestyle and 800-metre ...

International Swimming League

In 2019 Murdoch was member of the

2019 International Swimming League The 2019 International Swimming League was the inaugural edition of the International Swimming League, a professional swimming league, established in 2019. It comprised eight teams composed of both women and men. The league consisted of seven sho ...

representing

Team Iron Team Iron is a professional swimming team co-owned by Katinka Hosszú, and a founding member of the International Swimming League. The team is based in Budapest, Hungary, led by general manager Dorina Szekeres and head coach Jozsef Nagy. During ...

Commonwealth Games

2014

In July 2014, Murdoch competed in the

which were held in his home city of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He qualified (coming first) for the final of the 200 metre breaststroke with fellow Scots, favourite

and Calum Tait. He won the Men's 200 metre final, beating Jamieson and Tait at the Tollcross Swimming Centre. This was his first major gold medal. On the second day of the

, he qualified as the second fastest swimmer for the 100 metre breaststroke in a time of 59.72, only behind

who swam a time of 59.16 seconds. In the final, Murdoch won the bronze medal with a time of 59.47 seconds. He also qualified for the final of the 50 metre breaststroke, placing 6th in the final.

2022

At the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

, held starting in July in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Murdoch won a bronze medal in the 200 metre breaststroke on the first day of swimming competition with a time of 2:10.41."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 200m Breaststroke Final Results"
''

Longines Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A., or simply Longines (), is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, the company has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group and its predec ...

''. 29 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022. His achievement followed an eleven week retirement from swimming, that started in December 2021 and during which time he did not even get in a pool.Winton, Richard (28 July 2022)
"Commonwealth Games 2022: Ross Murdoch goes from retirement to revival in seven months"
''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

''. Retrieved 30 July 2022. Four days later, he won the bronze medal in the 50 metre breaststroke with a time of 27.32 seconds."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 50m Breaststroke Final Results"
''

''. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2022."Brilliant bronze for Murdoch to complete Commonwealth Games breaststroke set"
''

Scottish Swimming Scottish Swimming, also known as the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association (SASA), is the national governing body for swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming in Scotland. The SASA and the English and Welsh swimming associations for ...

''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022. The following day, he won a bronze medal as part of the 4×100 metre medley relay, splitting a 59.59 for the breaststroke leg of the relay in the final and contributing to a new Scottish record time of 3:35.11."Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games: Men's 4x100m Medley Relay Final Results"
''

''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022."Two more medals on final night of swimming"
''

''. 3 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022. His medals helped to tie the all-time performance record by swimmers representing Scotland at a single

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

in terms of total medals won, a record of 12 total medals previously set at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

2016 & 2020 Olympic Games

Ross finished 9th in the 100m breaststroke at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

with a time of 1:00.05. During the

2020 Olympic games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Ross finished 12th in the 200m breaststroke.

Personal life

Murdoch started swimming in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter town ...

, close to his hometown of Balloch, when he was 6 years old. He stated his father as being inspirational as he pushed him to achieve success. He was a pupil of

Balfron High School Balfron High School is a secondary school situated in the village of Balfron, approximately 18 miles (29 km) west of Stirling and 16 miles (26 km) north of Glasgow. The catchment area extends over most of West Stirlingshire including th ...

. He has a younger sister, Heather, and a younger brother, Scott.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murdoch, Ross 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Glasgow Scottish male swimmers Male breaststroke swimmers Swimmers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers of Great Britain Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Sportspeople from West Dunbartonshire Alumni of the University of Stirling Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics