Matthew Richards (born 17 December 2002) is a British

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

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 A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. 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 David Popovici (; born 15 September 2004) is a Romanian competitive Swimming (sport), swimmer who specializes in freestyle swimming, freestyle events and is the reigning Olympic champion in the Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 ...

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.

Early life

Richards was born in

Droitwich Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester. ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

, England, to Amanda and Simon Richards. 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 Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

and

tae kwon do Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In a ...

but gave them up to concentrate on swimming. He attended

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding ...

Career

Although born in England, Richards represented Wales as his father was born there. He broke the Welsh records in 100 and 200 metre freestyle. He became the junior champion in 100 m freestyle at the

2019 European Junior Swimming Championships The 2019 European Junior Swimming Championships (50 m) were held from 3 to 7 July 2019 in Kazan, Russia at the Palace of Water Sports. The Championships were organized by LEN, the European Swimming League, and were held in a 50-meter pool. The Cham ...

held in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

. He competed in the men's 100 metre freestyle event at the

2020 European Aquatics Championships The 2020 European Aquatics Championships (also known as the 2021 European Aquatics Championships; 35th) were scheduled to take place in Budapest, Hungary, from 11 to 24 May 2020. However, on 5 May it was announced that the event had been postpon ...

, in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Hungary, and won two silver as part of the British team in the men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle and 4 × 200 metre freestyle relays. 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 The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, 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. The gold is Britain's first in 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the Olympics since 1908. In 2023, he won the gold medal at the 2023 British Swimming Championships in the 200 metres freestyle. He won gold in the 200m freestyle as well as the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the

2023 World Aquatics Championships The 2023 World Aquatics Championships, the 20th edition of the World Aquatics Championships, were held in Fukuoka, Japan, from 14 to 30 July 2023. Originally scheduled to be held in 2021 as the 19th championships, the championships were postpo ...

held in Japan. After winning both the 100 metres freestyle and the 200 metres freestyle at the

2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships The 2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships (sponsored by Speedo) were held at the London Aquatics Centre in London, from 3 April to 8 April 2024. They also doubled as the trials for the 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), ...

, Richards sealed his place at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. 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

. 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. They are also the first British team to have defended an Olympic relay title in swimming or athletics. Shortly after the Olympics on 22 August 2024, Richards married fellow Team GB swimmer Emily Large. In 2025, Richards successfully defended his 100 metres freestyle title at the

2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships The 2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships (sponsored by Speedo) were held at the London Aquatics Centre in London, from 15 April to 22 April 2025. They were organised by Aquatics GB, formerly British Swimming and was the second time the eve ...

, which sealed a qualification place for the

2025 World Aquatics Championships The 2025 World Aquatics Championships, the 22nd edition of the World Aquatics Championships, will be held in Singapore, from 11 July to 3 August 2025. Originally to be held in Kazan, Russia, the championships were relocated to Singapore on 9 F ...

in Singapore..

Awards

Richards was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to swimming.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Matthew 2002 births Living people European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers for Great Britain Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Wales 21st-century British sportsmen Sportspeople from Droitwich Spa Sportspeople from Worcestershire English people of Welsh descent Welsh male freestyle swimmers British male freestyle swimmers