Michael Murphy – Diving – 1992, 1996
Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Commerce.
Michael Murphy was a self-described “knock-kneed, chubby 10-year-old” when he confidently declared he was going to become an Olympic diver.
Less than 10 years later, he was true to his word when he contested the 3m springboard at the 1992 Barcelona Games, finishing fourth, before backing up to compete at Atlanta 1996.
“Something about the Olympic movement lit a fire inside me,” he says.
“It’s not about winning. It’s not about fame. It’s not about fortune. It’s about realising the satisfaction that comes from simply striving to become the best person you can be.”
Murphy has carried that philosophy into his post-Olympic life.
Since succumbing to a back injury in 1997, he has been awarded the Sir Robert Gordon Menzies Scholarship to Harvard, received the Macquarie Bank Graduate Management Scholarship, holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School and forged a highly successful career with one of the world’s leading private investment firms.
He has also been Chairperson of Diving Australia and an Australian Olympic Committee Board Member – and it all started at Bond University.
“I was lucky because I got a full scholarship to Law and Commerce at Bond University straight away (after my injury) so it gave me something new and challenging to focus on immediately,” Murphy says.
“A lot of people find the transition pretty confronting … (but) in life there is so much more.”