{"id":655841,"date":"2026-10-23T08:53:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T15:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=655841"},"modified":"2026-10-24T05:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T12:13:08","slug":"two-time-olympic-relay-champion-matt-richards-heads-to-florida-gators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/two-time-olympic-relay-champion-matt-richards-heads-to-florida-gators\/","title":{"rendered":"Two-Time Olympic Relay Champion Matt Richards Heading To Florida Gators In Spring 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two-Time Olympic Relay Champion Matt Richards Heading To Florida Gators In Spring 2027<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two-time Olympic 4×200 relay champion Matt Richards<\/strong> is heading to the Florida Gators in spring 2027 with less than 18 months remaining until the LA Games in July 2028.<\/p>\n

The Gators made the announcement on social media, saying: \u201c3x World Champion, 2x Olympic Gold Medalist, now the chance to be a Florida Gator! \ud83d\udc0a Welcome to Florida, @m4ttrichards<\/a> \u201c<\/p>\n

It comes a couple of months after Richards told Swimming World<\/a> that he was doing everything in his power to avoid a repeat of his crushing disappointment of Paris 2024<\/strong> where he missed 200m freestyle gold by 0.02secs behind David Popovici<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That includes heading to the Gators where the pro group includes Katie Ledecky<\/strong> and Bobby Finke<\/strong> with Tunisian pair Ahmed Jaouadi<\/strong> and Ahmed Hafnaoui\u00a0<\/strong>on the swimming and diving program.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old has been training at Manchester Performance Centre<\/strong> where he\u2019s been guided by Ryan Livingstone<\/strong> who has had a huge impact on Richards\u2019 career and he’ll swap the north-west city for Gainesville next year with wife Emily, a 200 fly specialist and who won gold as a prelims swimmer with the GB women’s 4×100 medley squad at the European Championships in August.<\/p>\n

Richards told floridagators.com: “Watching Caeleb Dressel race for Florida is what first made me want to be a Gator, and I’ve followed this team ever since. I’m close with a lot of the guys on the squad, so getting to race alongside them at SECs and NCAAs and help chase a national title is something I never thought I’d get the chance to do. I can’t wait to get out there and get started.”<\/p>\n

He will join a group coached by Anthony Nesty<\/strong> who said: “We have been talking to Matt for a long time\u2014but we finally worked it out. He is a great athlete and an even better person. He will improve all aspects of our team immediately. We will welcome him and his wife Emily to Gainesville this spring. Go Gators!”<\/p>\n

On top of his two Olympic golds and one silver, Richards has four world titles among six medals, four European crowns and four Commonwealth medals, all from Glasgow 2026.<\/p>\n

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