Ian William Richards (born April 12, 1948) is a

racewalker Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

from England, who represented

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at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

Biography

Richards finished third behind Steve Barry in the 3,000m walk event at the 1980 AAA Championships. Shortly afterwards at the 1980 Olympics Games in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, he represented

and finished in 11th place in the men's 50 km race, clocking 4:22.57. Two years after the Olympics Richards retired from competition, before returning to competition at the age of 60. At the

2013 World Masters Athletics Championships 2013 World Masters Athletics Championships is the 20th in a series of World Masters Athletics Championships#Outdoor Championships, World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships that took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil from 16 to 27 October 2013. ...

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

, Brazil, Richards set a world record in the M65 5,000 meter racewalk (the event for men aged 65–69 years), with a time of 24:13.10, and was second in the M65 10,000 meter racewalk. Richards won the 5,000 meter racewalk at the

2015 World Masters Athletics Championships 2015 World Masters Athletics Championships is the 21st in a series of World Masters Athletics Championships#Outdoor Championships, World Masters Athletics Outdoor Championships that took place in Lyon, France from 4 to 16 August 2015. This w ...

. He competed at European and World Masters Championships in 2017 (at

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

and Daegue) and 2018 (at Alicante and Malaga). In 2019, Richards broke the M70 world record (the record for men aged 70–74 years) in the 3,000 meter racewalk at the World Masters Indoor Championships in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

, Poland. Later that year, he was named Sports Personality of the Year at the Sussex Sports Awards, for his successes in the preceding year and for being an inspiration to other athletes in Sussex.

References

1948 births Living people Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Stockport English male race walkers British male race walkers {{England-racewalk-athletics-bio-stub