Swimmer going for solo Olympic medal ‘phenomenally talented’ – former coach

The former coach of a British swimmer has praised him as a “phenomenally talented athlete” as he hopes to secure his first solo Olympic medal on Monday.

Droitwich’s Matt Richards, who won Olympic gold as part of the men’s 4x200m relay team in Tokyo when he was 18 and was world champion by the age of 20, is preparing to compete in the 200m freestyle in Paris on Monday evening.

The 21-year-old, who told the PA news agency earlier this month that he is “in the best shape I’ve ever been in by a mile”, was around 10 years old when he joined Worcester Swimming Club, where he was coached by Mark Stowe.

Speaking at Perdiswell Leisure Centre ahead of Matt’s 200m freestyle, in which he will be in pursuit of his first individual Olympic medal, Mark said he is a “true role model” for younger swimmers.

He described the Olympian as having “plenty of potential” when he was a young swimmer in training.

He said: “He was a cheeky little chap, I remember that – well behaved but a cheeky little chap who was quite mischievous. He was fun, a good swimmer, nice skills in the water – we had to work quite hard on his technique to improve that.”

When asked whether he knew the club had a world champion on their hands, he said: “He looked like he had plenty of potential at 10 and 11, expecting he was going to go and win an Olympic medal at 18 as part of a relay team, I probably wouldn’t have guessed that, but one thing that did stand out when he was young was his mentality.

“You could see he was very committed, focused, hardworking, dedicated. That work ethic really stood out at a young age, as probably did his competitiveness as well.

“He knew that if he wanted to be a really good swimmer, he had to improve. And it took time, it took years, but he did work on that technique. And when that started to look smooth and efficient, and powerful, then you get that feeling that there’s a really good swimmer here and someone potentially very special.”

Mark said Matt will be competing alongside incredibly talented swimmers in the 200m freestyle and he and teammate Duncan Scott will need to be able to perform under pressure.

He said: “They will both give it their all for Team GB, we know that. They’re both brilliant competitors.

“And I think that’s going to be the key – who can control their nerves, who can deliver that performance under that pressure.

“That final is going to be decided by, as we saw with Adam Peaty last night, hundreds and tenths of a second.

“It’s not going to be much between any one of those eight men. I think anyone could win it and why shouldn’t it be either Matt or Duncan?”

Olympic marathon swimmer Alice Dearing, who retired after failing to qualify for Paris 2024, said she was “fortunate” to have been able to swim with Matt when she was younger at Royal Wolverhampton Swimming Club.

She said: “He is a fantastic athlete, his legacy, his dedication, his hard work really shines through in the athlete that he is.

“He obviously got that amazing gold at Tokyo in the relay and has qualified in the individual this time round, and we’re really excited to see what we can do.”

Alice said organisations like the National Lottery have helped athletes like her and Matt achieve success.

She said: “Athletes like Matt and myself, we’re not just created by existing in isolation. There are lots of people, lots of support networks behind us, which make us the athletes that we are – the National Lottery being one of them being one of the most important ones.

“It gives us our funding, it means that we don’t have to go out and get a part-time job, it means that we can focus on our swimming or our education and be the best athletes that we can be.

“It goes all the way down to grassroots levels where £30 million a week is put into sports and good causes across the country.

“We’re very fortunate that this is the system we have in the UK, a lot of other countries do not have this system in place and you see athletes still competing at the best level at the Olympics, but having to have a full-time job to make that work.”