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Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Worcester, England | 17 December 2002||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 85 kg (187 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Freestyle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Matthew Richards MBE (born 17 December 2002) is a British swimmer specialising in 100 and 200 metre freestyle, active internationally from 2020. He won the gold medal in the 200 metre freestyle at 2023 World Aquatics Championships, a silver in the 200 m freestyle at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Olympic gold in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics and World gold in the same event at the 2023 World Championships.
Richards swam the third leg of the gold-medal winning Great Britain 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the first British team to win the event since 1908. Previously, he had won two silver medals in team freestyle relays at the European Championships. [1] In 2023 he won the British Championships in the 200 metres for the first time, holding off Olympic champion Tom Dean, former World Champion James Guy and multiple Olympic and World medalist Duncan Scott, all teammates from the 2020 relay squad. In July 2023, Richards again held off Dean as well as defending World champion David Popovici to win the gold medal in the 2023 World Championships, before following up with gold in the men's 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay and bronze in the mixed 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay.
Matt Richards was born in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England, to Amanda and Simon Richards. [2] [3] He started swimming when he was five years old at Droitwich Leisure Centre, and joined the Droitwich Dolphins Swimming Club when he was eight, later moving to Worcester Swimming Club aged ten. He played other sports such as rugby and tae kwon do but gave them up to concentrate on swimming. [4] He was a student at Bishop Perowne Church of England College. [5]
Although born in England, Richards represented Wales as his father was born there. [6] He broke the Welsh records in 100 and 200 metre freestyle. [6] He became the junior champion in 100 m freestyle at the 2019 European Junior Swimming Championships held in Kazan. [7]
He competed in the men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships, in Budapest, Hungary, [8] and won two silver as part of the British team in the men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relays. [9] [10] He was also part of the team that won gold in 4×100 m mixed freestyle, although he swam in the heats and did not swim in the finals.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he was in the men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay together with James Guy, Duncan Scott, and Tom Dean. He swam the third leg in 1 minute 45.01 seconds, a performance that helped the team win gold with a time of six minutes 58.58 seconds. [11] The gold is Britain's first in 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Olympics since 1908. [11]
In 2023, he won the gold medal at the 2023 British Swimming Championships in the 200 metres freestyle. [12] He won gold in the 200m freestyle as well as the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships held in Japan. [13] [14]
After winning both the 100 metres freestyle and the 200 metres freestyle at the 2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, Richards sealed his place at the 2024 Summer Olympics. [15]
At the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, Richards was only the seventh fastest qualifier for the 200 m freestyle final. However, Richards swam a fast race in the final, and was beaten to second place by only 0.02 of a second by David Popovici. [16] In the Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay, the same four quartet of British swimmers who won in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics, James Guy, Duncan Scott, Tom Dean and Richards contested in the final. They won the relay with a time of six minutes and 59.43 seconds, and became the first team to have successfully defended an Olympic swimming relay title with the same four swimmers. [17] They are also the first British team to have defended an Olympic relay title in swimming or athletics. [18]
Richards was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to swimming. [19] [20]
Richard Berens is an American former competition swimmer, two-time Olympic gold medalist, world champion, and current world record-holder. As a member of the U.S. national team, he holds the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. He competed in the 4×100-meter and 4×200-meter freestyle relay events, as well as the individual 200-meter freestyle at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Benjamin Proud is an English competitive swimmer, representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games, the FINA World Aquatics Championships and LEN European Aquatics Championships, and England at the Commonwealth Games. Proud specialises in sprint freestyle and butterfly races, specifically the 50-metre distance in both. He is the 2022 World Champion in the 50 metre freestyle, his second long course world title. He is the 2017 world champion in the 50-metre butterfly. He is only the third male swimmer to be simultaneously short-course and long-course World Champion at 50 metre freestyle, after César Cielo and Florent Manaudou. in 2024, at his third attempt he won his first Olympic medal, a silver, in the 50 metre freestyle at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Calum George Jarvis is a Welsh competitive swimmer who has represented Great Britain in World Championships and the Olympics, and Wales in the Commonwealth Games. Jarvis competes primarily in freestyle and backstroke events. In 2014, he competed at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as part of the Welsh team, winning the bronze medal in the 200m freestyle.
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Duncan William MacNaughton Scott is a Scottish swimmer representing Great Britain at the FINA World Aquatics Championships, LEN European Aquatics Championships, European Games and the Olympic Games, and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Scott made history after winning four medals - more than any other British athlete at a single Olympic Games - in Tokyo 2020, simultaneously becoming Great Britain's most decorated swimmer in Olympic history. With an additional gold and silver medal in Paris 2024 bringing his total to eight, Scott became Scotland's most-decorated Olympian, and is currently tied with Bradley Wiggins as the second most-decorated Olympian in British history. Scott is the only athlete in the top three to still be actively competing.
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Kyle Chalmers, is an Australian competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 100 metre freestyle, 4×100 metre medley relay, and long course 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay. He is the Oceanian and Australian record holder in the short course 50 metre butterfly and 50 metre freestyle.
Stephen Milne is a Scottish swimmer who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Cameron Roland Kurle is a British swimmer. He has won a gold and two silvers as a junior at the 2015 European Games. As a senior, he won a silver medal in freestyle relay in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
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