Matt Richards (swimmer)

Matthew Richards (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, 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. 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.

Early life
Matt Richards was born in Droitwich, Worcester, 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 and tae kwon do but gave them up to concentrate on swimming. He was a student at Bishop Perowne Church of England College.

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 held in Kazan.

He competed in the men's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2020 European Aquatics Championships, in Budapest, 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, 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. 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.

Awards
Richards was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to swimming.