Close to a century later Clayton Murphy has an answer for those two women.
Instead of Paris, his city of enticement is Rio de Janeiro. But he was a farmer. He grew up raising champion, blue ribbon-winning pigs on a 37-acre farm along Eaton-Fort Nesbitt Road in Darke County.
Tonight — as part of the Team USA contingent that also includes Middletown’s Kayla Harrison, a gold medalist in judo four years ago in London — he’ll take part in the opening ceremonies for the Rio Olympics.
And on Aug. 12, the former standout at Tri-Village High School in New Madison — and now, at just 21, one of America’s newest running sensations — will compete in the 800-meter run.
As for that How You Gonna Keep ‘Em? question, with Murphy, it’s simple:
You bring the farm with you.
We’re not talking about manure stuck on the bottoms of his running spikes or wheat chaff flecked in his hair, but instead the lessons of the farm — hard work, responsibility, self-motivation — that are in his heart, his mind and especially his backbone.
“Running is a process and a lot of things I learned on the farm carries over now,” he said before leaving for Rio. When you’re a distance runner you do a lot on your own, whether it’s training or travel or even in the race where you have to make decisions and adjust.
“I’ve been doing all that since I was a kid on the farm. You have to get up early, do your chores and do them again after school before your parents get home from work. Your animals depend in you. You’ve got to do the work.”
Both of Murphy’s parents are involved in the business of farming.
His mom, Melinda, is a grain originator for the agricultural and energy cooperative Trupointe, which means she goes around to area farmers buying grain for the company’s numerous elevators.
His dad, Mark. is an agronomist helping Miami County farmers with their seed, fertilizer and chemical choices.
Both parents are around farmers all day and as the Olympics has approached, they have seen many of them embrace their son. Not only because of where he’s from, but for what they believe he stands for.
“We had a field day for farmers yesterday,” Mark explained late Thursday afternoon. “I had a lot of people come up and tell me, ‘I never met your son, but I feel he’s a part of me and I’m a part of him. Never in my life have I wanted to watch an Olympics more than this one.’
“They’ve heard about him or they’ve connected to his parents or his coach or someone, or they follow him on social media. And they’re really getting into it.”
He started laughing: “Yep, the town of New Madison is erupting.”
Melinda said the high school track team — Clayton was the small-school 1,600-meter state champ as a Tri Village senior — had a successful fund-raiser selling yard signs that urge Clayton on in Rio.
In nearby Greenville, a sports apparel shop has sold out of Clayton Murphy Olympic T-shirts.
Even over in Piqua, where Mark now lives, people in the neighborhood have filled his yard with homemade signs supporting Clayton’s Olympic bid.
“It feels like people have really begun to connect with him,” Mark said. “A lot of it’s just because the Olympics are finally here, but some of it started, I believe, a couple weeks ago when he won that exciting race on ESPN.”
In a trumpeted, pre-Games promotion, he was matched against fellow Olympian Matthew Centrowitz, who had won the 1,500 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials, in a special 1,000-meter challenge race televised live from Rice University.
Murphy held off a late challenge from Centrowitz to win and further cement a growing reputation that began a year ago when he won 1,500-meter gold at the Pan Am Games in Toronto. Then earlier this year, as a University of Akron All-American, he was the NCAA champion at 800 meters indoors and then 1,500 meters outdoors.
His status then skyrocketed when — using his trademark, late-race kick — he came from the back of the pack to win the 800 meters at the Olympic Trials. He now gives the U.S. some semblance of a chance at the Olympics, where an American hasn’t medaled in the 800 in 24 years and hasn’t won in 44.
“I think he’s shown people around here that he’s not only going to really represent southwest Ohio but Team USA,” Mark said.
“A lot of times people think to be a great athlete you have to grow up in Columbus or New York or Dayton. He’s proving you can come from a little town like New Madison, a town of fewer than 1,000 people (last census 892), and be a contender.
“It’s not so much about having the facilities or the toughest completion, it’s about your ability to work hard and train hard and set goals and dream.”
And, as Melinda put it the other day: “It’s awesome to see your kid’s dreams come true.”
Tonight Murphy’s family — his parents, his younger brother Wesley, his girlfriend Tara Snipes (an Akron runner from Covington High) — will be watching the opening ceremonies on their TV sets.
“I’m a mom, I’ll be able to spot my kid,” Melinda laughed.
Next week they all head to Rio.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to see him before he runs, but I hope I get close enough in the stadium so he can hear me yell his name,” Mark said.
“We’re all excited to go there and be a part of the Games. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I can’t wait.”
And with a bit of a laugh and a moment’s hesitation, he added one more thing.
“We’re staying just five block from beach volleyball,” he said of the ultra-popular sport famed for its skimpy uniforms and deep tans. “Copacabana Beach and beach volleyball! After Clayton, I think that’ll be my next favorite sport.”
Sometimes a farmer does need to expand his horizons.
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