Jackson Richardson (born 14 June 1969) is a retired French handball player. As the captain of the French handball team, he was the flag carrier during the

Olympic Games opening ceremony The Olympic Games ceremonies of the Ancient Olympic Games were an integral part of these Games; the modern Olympic games have opening, closing, and medal ceremonies. Some of the elements of the modern ceremonies date back to the Ancient Games from ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

on 13 August 2004.

Biography

Richardson started playing handball when he was 6 years old, and was spotted in 1988, during the final of the Nationale 3 league, by Daniel Costantini, the French team head coach, who was looking for a player from

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

to play with the . Richardson then signed a contract with the club Paris-Asnières in 1989, and started to be well known with his first games for the national team. Two years later, he was transferred to

OM Vitrolles SMUC Marseille is a team handball club from Marseille, France. Currently, SMUC Marseille competes in the French First League of Handball. Between 1989 and 1996 the team was called OM Vitrolles Accomplishments *EHF Cup Winner's Cup: ** Winne ...

, the team with which he won the

French League The French League (: "French League for purging, mutual aid and European collaboration") was a collaborationist French movement founded by Pierre Costantini in September 1940. Its journal was entitled ''L'Appel''. Bibliography * Pierre Philip ...

in 1994 and 1996, the

French Cup The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professional ...

in 1993 and 1995, and the Cup Winners' Cup in 1993. After that he went to Germany to play with the team of

TV Großwallstadt TV Großwallstadt is a team handball club from Großwallstadt. Achievements * European Club Championship: 2 **1979, 1980 * Cup Winner's Cup Finalists: 2 **1986, 1988 * IHF Cup: 1 **1984 * City Cup: 1 **2000 * German First League of Handball: ...

, with which he won the European Cities Cup in 2000. The summit of his club career occurred in Spain, where he played with

Portland San Antonio Sociedad Deportiva Cultural San Antonio was a Spanish handball team based in Pamplona, Navarra. The team was based in Spain. In July 2012, the team resigned from the Liga ASOBAL for the 2012–13 season due to the failure to find a new sponsor ...

, winning the Champions League against

FC Barcelona Handbol Futbol Club Barcelona Handbol is a Spanish handball team based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is a part of the FC Barcelona multi sports club, and was founded on 29 November 1942. The club competes domestically in the Liga ASOBAL and in the Europ ...

in 2001 and the Spanish League the following year. Richardson came back to France in 2005 to play with

Chambéry Savoie Handball Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb� ...

. With the French national team, Jackson has won two

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, ...

in 1995 and 2001 (and four other medals, in 1993, 1997, 2003 and 2005), a bronze medal in the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

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 ...

, and the title of IHF Best player in the world in 1995. He holds by far the record of the most caps for France with more than 400 games. The French handball federation prepared him an outstanding party to celebrate his goodbye to the national team, at the Paris-Bercy tournament, with many sport figures present, although the most important was the presence of his mother, who came from their native Reunion Island to be with her son Jack in such an important day. Richardson was certainly one of the most talented players of his time. His very instinctive style was the combination of constant hard working and genial improvisation, which made him one of the top players in the world for more than 15 years. Richardson retired after a great

vs US Ivry match. He is married and has two children. His son,

Melvyn Melvyn is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Melvyn Betts (born 1975), English cricketer * Melvyn Bragg (born 1939), British broadcaster and author * Melvyn Caplan, British Conservative politician * Melvyn Douglas (1901-1981), American ...

, is a player on the

France men's national handball team The France national handball team is supervised by the French Handball Federation, and represents France in international matches. It is the first handball team to have held all three titles twice (the Danish women' ...

France national team

* First cap: 10 January 1990 against

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

* Goals: 775 (5 penalties) * Number of caps: 417 * Last international game: 5 February 2005 against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Clubs

* Saint-Pierre de la Réunion * 1989-91 : Paris-Asnières * 1991-96 :

* 1996-00 :

* 2000-05 :

* 2005-08 :

* 2009-09 :

Rhein-Neckar Löwen Rhein-Neckar Löwen is a professional handball club founded in 2002, based in Mannheim, Germany. The club competes in the German Handball-Bundesliga and continentally in EHF European League. Rhein-Neckar Löwen play their home games in SAP Ar ...

Honours

;With France * 2

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, ...

(

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

) * Bronze medal in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

(

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

) * Silver medal in the World Championship (

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

) * Bronze medal in the World Championship (

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

) ;With clubs * 1

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the me ...

(2001 with Portland San Antonio) * Champions League final (2003) * 2 European Cup Winners' Cups (1993 with OM Vitrolles, 2004 with Portland San Antonio) * 1 Europe Supercup (2000 with Portland San Antonio) * 1 European Cities Cup (2000 with TV Großwallstadt) * 2 French Leagues (1994, 1996) * 2 Spanish Leagues (2003, 2005) * 2

Coupes de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professional ...

(1993, 1995) * 1

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

(2001) * 2 Spanish Supercups (2001, 2002) ;Personal distinctions *

IHF World Player of the Year The IHF World Player of the Year is a handball award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season, both at club and international competitions. It is awarded based on votes from experts, media ...

(1995) * MVP of the World Championship (

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

) and European Championship (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) * Best playmaker of the World Championship (1995) and European Championship (2000) * Best playmaker of the

between 1993 and 2013 * Best foreign player of the Spanish League (2001, 2002) * Best playmaker of the Spanish League (2003, 2004, 2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Jackson 1969 births Living people People from Saint-Pierre, Réunion French male handball players Olympic handball players of France Olympic bronze medalists for France Handball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Handball players from Réunion Olympic medalists in handball Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics