Matt Richards Bows Out With Another Near Miss But Vows There Is More To Come In 2028

By Paul Jones

Matt Richards finished his stint at the Paris Olympics by missing out on another medal, but happy with his tally of silver and gold and looking forward to 2028.

The Welsh swimmer was part of the Great Britain men’s 4×100 metres medley relay squad that finished just off the podium in fourth place.

It means Richards, 21, was unable to add to his gold in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay and silver in the individual 200m freestyle.

But the Team Wales star insisted: “It’s been an amazing week.

“I can’t necessarily say it’s what I wanted to walk away with.But it’s my second Olympic Games, I’ve got an individual silver and another [4 x 200m Freestyle] gold with the boys, some great experience in relays like that tonight with the lads, and I can’t walk away from it anything but happy.

“There is so much to learn from and so much to move forwards with. I’ve loved every minute and that’s the most important thing for me.

“Being in this arena is what I’ve always wanted to do since I was a little boy, and the longer I can keep doing that the more the results will come in over time.”

https://twitter.com/BBCSportWales/status/1819999210172989780

Looking back over the past nine-days, Great Britain’s pool swimming team leave Paris 2024 with the emphatic retention of the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle gold alongside four silver medals from Adam Peaty (Men’s 100m Breaststroke), Richards (Men’s 200m Freestyle), Ben Proud (Men’s 50m Freestyle) and Duncan Scott (Men’s 200m Individual Medley).

But the Sunday evening relay was overshadowed by controversy surrounding the gold medal won by China.

Adam Peaty questioned the legitimacy of China’s victory as he suggested rival Qin Haiyang “should be out of the sport” over his doping past.

Qin and Sun Jiajun helped their nation claim gold but they were two of 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine prior to the Tokyo Olympics and cleared to compete on the basis of a finding they had unknowingly ingested the drug via contaminated food.

Four brilliant swims from Ollie Morgan, Adam Peaty, Duncan Scott and Matt Richards in the men's 4x100m medley relay.

But it wasn't enough, as they finish fourth behind China, USA and France. #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/etrba9AFNm

— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 4, 2024

The issue heavily overshadowed the build-up to Paris 2024 and appeared to lead to mistrust from several swimmers in the system, with Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel expressing their misgivings, and Peaty joined the clamour on the final night of action in the pool as he singled out Qin for criticism.

As well as the recent furore, Peaty seemed to reference a New York Times allegation that Qin returned a positive test for a different performance-enhancing drug in 2017 – which was blamed on food contamination at the time – as a reason that he should no longer be allowed to compete.

“One of my favourite quotes I’ve seen lately is that there’s no point winning if you’re not winning fair,” Peaty said. “I think you know that truth in your heart.

“If you touch and you know that you’re cheating, you’re not winning. For me, if you’ve been on that and you have been ‘contaminated’ twice, I think as an honourable person you should be out of the sport.

“I don’t want to paint a whole nation or group of people with one brush, I think that’s very unfair. But there have been two cases of it and it’s very disappointing.

“The Americans have been very vocal. We didn’t want to get distracted with that. What I’ve said from the start is that it’s fraud. If you’re cheating, it’s fraud.”

Adam Peaty-led Team GB narrowly miss out on a medal in the 4x100m medley relay… with the USA missing out on gold in the event for the first time in their history as China triumph https://t.co/hhRG2Ct5OW

— Mail Sport (@MailSport) August 4, 2024

Peaty, who raced alongside Oliver Morgan, Duncan Scott and Matt Richards, finished outside of the podium places in fourth although he insisted this was not a case of sour grapes.

While he is uncertain about his future in the sport, Peaty insisted every Team GB swimmer will use the row surrounding the Chinese swimmers as fuel for the fire ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles – although he has called on anti-doping bosses to do more.

“We’ll use it to our advantage for the next four years, whether I’m there or not,” he said. “I know these boys will carry that and we’ll see how they do in four years’ time.

“But I think to the people that need to do their job – wake up and do your job. I think we have to have faith in the system. But we also don’t. I think it’s got to be stricter.

“It’s not about the podium because whoever’s in the race, I expect in my head has to be fair to be there. We did our best as a team.”

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