British Swimmer Matt Richards has a wedding to plan and a sport to save… but for now he’s focused on making history at the 2024 Olympics in Paris as he sets his sights on FIVE gold medals

If Matt Richards ever lacks motivation, all he has to do is look to his right hand. “I got the Olympic rings tattooed there and that's very important to me,” says the new star of British swimming.

“I see it every time I go on the blocks and it's the last thing I see before I dive in.” That is very inspiring for me when I race and train.”

Can those five rings now inspire the 21-year-old to collect five medals? That is Richards' ambitious target at next summer's Olympic Games in Paris – and it would be a first for a Briton.

Fellow swimmer Duncan Scott is currently Team GB's most decorated athlete at a single Olympic Games, with four medals at Tokyo 2020, including a gold medal alongside Richards in the 4x200m freestyle relay.

But Richards admits: 'There is an awful lot of medal potential in Paris. Five would be the most a Briton has ever won and that should be the target.

Richards (third from left) brought home three medals at the World Championships in the summer, winning gold in the 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay

But individual gold is the main target for Richards, with the swimmer pictured here receiving an MBE in 2021.

'It's not an easy task. It's a ridiculous number of medals to win in one Olympic Games. But we are preparing to try to take home as many as we can.”

After taking home three medals at the World Championships last summer, Richards knows what can be done. In Fukuoka he won gold in the 200m freestyle – Britain's only individual victory – and the 4x200m freestyle relay, plus bronze in the 4x100m mixed freestyle relay, which is not an Olympic event.

In Paris 2024 he will also try to improve on his fifth place in the 100 meter freestyle and the 4×100 meter medley relay, and win a medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay. However, his top priority is individual gold.

“I'm more motivated than ever,” emphasizes Richards, who will compete at the World Championships in Doha in February. 'I've been on the podium in a relay at an Olympic Games and now I've been on a podium individually at a World Cup. So now I want to try to marry the two together and win gold at the Olympics.”

Despite being world champion, the Welshman still has to actually seal his selection for the Paris Games. Great Britain can only pick two swimmers for the 200m freestyle and in their ranks they also have Tom Dean, the Olympic champion and world silver medalist, and Scott, the Olympic silver medalist.

It means there will be a mouth-watering duel in the pool during the British Championships – which doubles as the Olympic Trials – at the London Aquatics Center in April.

“It's definitely a unique situation,” admits Richards, who capped his landmark year earlier this month with two more golds at the European Short Course Championships. “But I love how fierce that rivalry will be at the British Championships to qualify for the team.

“From now until the second we step on the blocks, we will all be teammates and friends. 'But we will be rivals for the one minute and forty seconds we are in the group. It's going to be a great race.'

Richards also has something else on the line at the trials as his fiancée Emily Large will attempt to qualify for her first Olympic Games in the 200m butterfly. The couple are desperate to compete together in the City of Love before getting married in Hereford just days after the Games.

“We wanted to be together in Tokyo, but she just missed qualifying in the event before I qualified,” Richards recalled. 'That was such a difficult situation to be in as a couple and it scarred us both. But it only drives us further. All we want is for us both to be there next year and see what we can do together on the world stage.”

Richards has the five Olympic rings tattooed on his hand and wants to become the first Briton to win five medals at a Games

Unfortunately, not many people were able to see Richards in action over the summer as the World Championships in Japan were not televised

Unfortunately, few got to see what Richards could do on the world stage in the summer, as the World Championships in Japan were not televised and could only be found via a niche online stream. His father Simon addressed the lack of coverage of his son's achievements in a series of social media posts, many of which were addressed to the BBC, which opted not to buy the rights from World Aquatics.

“Dad is a lot louder than I am,” Richards admits. 'He is sometimes a pain in the proverbial.

“I try to keep him in check, but he's his own guy. I can't hack his Twitter!'

Richards, however, shares his father's frustration. But for him, it's not about raising his own profile; it's actually a matter of life and death.

“We have a responsibility to try to get kids swimming, just to get them to a point where they can swim enough to save their lives if they fall into water,” he says. 'Swimming on TV and making it a bit more mainstream is probably the way to do that.

“If we were on television and that inspired a child to learn to swim and then that skill saved his life in the future, to me that's worth any prize. It is a situation that we as a country must try to find a solution for.'

The lack of coverage of his sport in the mainstream media is also why Richards was not surprised to be overlooked on the six-strong shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

Simon Richards, his father, has spoken out in the past about the coverage the sport has received

Richards (right) is still yet to book his place for the 2024 matches at the British Championships, and faces tough competition, including former teammate Tom Dean (second L)

His teammate Ben Proud was also snubbed, despite being the first swimmer in history to be crowned world, European and Commonwealth champion in the same year.

“Swimming is not the most mainstream sport in Britain,” adds Richards, who was recently nominated for the Athlete Breakthrough Award at the PLx Awards 2023, organized by UK Sport.

'I really felt bad that Ben should have been on that shortlist last year. I was very surprised and a little confused for him that he wasn't. I think swimming deserves more respect. We won the most medals of any British sport in Tokyo.

'It's a very complex issue but I plan to stay in the sport for well over a decade and trying to bring about a bit of change while I'm here is something I'm very passionate about.'

For more information about the PLx Awards, organized by UK Sport and powered by the National Lottery, visit www.uksport.gov.uk