Paris 2024 Olympics: Matt Richards eyes gold as perfect wedding present
Gripping his starting block, British swimmer Matt Richards has a split second between "take your marks" and the buzzer, to glance at his hands.
On the back of his right hand, there's a tattoo of the Olympic rings, commissioned after competing in his debut Games at Tokyo 2020, where he won swimming gold in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay.
On his left, post Paris 2024, there'll be a wedding band, maybe not in training or competing, but significant nonetheless, as days after the Games in France he'll marry fiancée and fellow swimmer Emily Large.
But will there be an extra wedding gift courtesy of a longed-for individual Olympic gold medal?
Richards certainly believes so, aiming as he is for multiple medals, a plan put in place immediately after claiming Olympic gold in Japan at just age 18.
Matt Richards at the British Swimming Championships 2023
Matt Richards seeking five medals at Paris 2024
"Now the real work starts," he posted on 29 July, just a day after he became Olympic champion alongside Duncan Scott, James Guy and Tom Dean. "T - 3 years until Paris 2024."
Not for Richards looking back on the achievement of being part of the first British men's team to win the discipline since 1908. This is a man moving forever forward, as perhaps expected of the then-teenager.
But it still is a matter of what's next, what's next, what's next for the now 21-year-old; the impatience of youth, perhaps, but also someone whose mission in life is to go as fast as he can.
Social media posts are dotted with countdowns.
"It's nearly showtime," he said four weeks out from the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka where he would go on to win three medals, including a dramatic 200m freestyle title, just touching out compatriot and Olympic champion in the distance, Tom Dean, by 0.02 seconds.
On the penultimate day of the 2024 Worlds in Doha, Richards posted: "6 weeks left until champs, LFG⚡️", referencing the British Olympic trials in April where he would go on to secure one of just two Olympic places for the nation in the men's 200m free at Paris 2024. A distance so strong for Team GB that defending Olympic champion Dean missed out on a place after coming third to Richards and Duncan Scott, the latter a four-time Olympic medallist in Tokyo grabbing the other place.
The biggest anticipation, though, is prior to competition season, Richards itching to put into practice the bulk of training he puts in behind the scenes.
"Tough 3 weeks at altitude coming to an end now, smiling through the pain🤣 " he wrote in October 2023, accompanied by a photo of him grinning broadly. "Just over 1 week until my first race of the season, big block in the bank and nearly time to have some fun😏".
Olympic couple goals for Matt Richards and Emily Large must wait
For all the joy he finds in swimming, the rollercoaster of sport has also tempered his personal journey to Paris.
For the second Olympic Games in succession, Large, a butterfly specialist and Richards' fiancée as of August 2022, has not made the British team.
Illness curtailed her journey, with a diagnosis of glandular fever halting the season abruptly, while for Tokyo 2020, Large was not selected.
"We wanted to be together in Tokyo, but she just missed out on qualifying in the event before I qualified," Richards said at the time. "That was such a tough situation to be in as a couple and it scarred both of us. But it only drives us on more. All we want is for both of us to be there next year and seeing what we can do on the world stage together."
About Paris, Large updated social media followers in May: "I’m gutted to have to say I will be cutting my season short this year and not racing, to ensure I am recovered properly ahead of next season and the next Olympic cycle. It’s a kick in the teeth but I’ll be back😌"
If there's anyone who understands, it's a fellow swimmer. "Proud of you," commented her husband-to-be on the post.
So the pair, who regularly document their lives on social media, are hoping for third time lucky, as husband and wife, come LA 2028 but, for now, the focus is on the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, and the swimming events taking place from 27 July to 4 August.
Richards has big plans.
"There is a hell of a lot of medal potential in Paris," he said. "Five would be the most that any Brit has ever won and that has got to be the target.
"I have stood on top of the podium in an Olympics as part of a relay and now I’ve stood on top of a podium individually at a World Championships. So now I want to try and marry the two together and get a gold at the Olympics."
A different kind of wedded bliss, that.