… and fellow prince of the pool MATT RICHARDS speaks exclusively to hello!
THE GOLD MEDALLIST ON BEING A WINNING TEAM WITH GIRLFRIEND EMILY
Matt Richards is a quarter of the dream team who helped propel Team GB Swimming to its most successful Olympics yet, but now he’s happy to swap the pool for the Cornish surf on a well-deserved getaway with girlfriend Emily Large.
“I hadn’t had the chance to let it all sink in, so it’s nice to have a little detox in Newquay, to step back and relax,” says the swimmer, who won gold as part of the men’s 200m freestyle relay team and spoke to
hello! ahead of his post-Olympics break. However, the active couple weren’t planning on lounging on the beach. “We don’t like sitting around, we get bored,” laughs Emily, a fellow international swimmer, who specialises in butterfly and competed at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. “We will spend lots of time in the sea.”
Emily, 20, and Matt, 18, got together last year when the country’s top swimmers were sent to Bath and Loughborough to return to training safely at the end of lockdown in May.
“I’m from Newcastle and Matt’s down in Worcester, but we both decided to move to Bath and continue our journey there and see where it takes us,” explains Emily.
IN THE SAME LANE
Both being elite athletes has meant their relationship is going swimmingly. “We have the same mindset. We motivate each other through the highs and lows. That’s what a relationship is about,” says Emily. “But when we’re away from the pool we don’t talk about swimming.”
Adds Matt: “Swimming is a weird sport as we spend so many hours in the pool. It’s hard for non-swimmers to understand that world, so it’s good to know that we support each other.”
After a couple of weeks off, Matt will be back to work – inspired by his Olympic team-mates.
“I looked round at the team I was with in Tokyo and some of these guys have done things that nobody’s ever done before in Britain. Duncan [Scott] won four medals at one Olympics, the most ever by a British athlete. For me, the next goal is two golds, three golds; I want to keep progressing. With British swimming the way H it is right now, success is breeding success.”
‘It’s good to know that we support each other’ Matt