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Benjamin Richardson (sprinter)
Irish sprinter From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Benjamin Richardson (born 19 December 2003) is an Irish track and field athlete who competes in 100 m and 200 m sprint events.[2] In 2025, Richardson switched his sporting allegiance from South Africa to Ireland, his country of birth.[3]
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Early life
Richardson was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was adopted and raised by his grandparents from Ghana, grandfather Osam and grandmother Beatrice when he was only 3 months old and brought to South Africa.[4] Osam was a career politician and moved to Mbombela in South Africa in 1987.
Richardson attended Nelspruit Primary School, TuksSport High School, and studied at the University of Pretoria in Pretoria.[5][6][7]
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Career
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In 2021, he won the silver medal in the 100 metres at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.[8] At the same competition he won gold as part of the South African 4 × 100 m relay team. With Mihlali Xhotyeni, Sinesipho Dambile, Letlhogonolo Moleyane, the relay team broke the world U20 record, running 38.51 seconds.[9]
In April 2022, he lowered his personal best over 100 metres to 10.08, Gaborone.[7] In August 2022, he won the bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.[10]
In August 2023, he was the youngest member of the South African team selected for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.[11]
He ran as part of the South African 4 × 100 m relay team which qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the 2024 World Relays Championships in Nassau, Bahamas.[12] In June 2024, he won bronze in the 100 metres at the African Championships in Cameroon.[13] He set a new 100m personal best of 9.86 seconds and a new 200m personal best of 19.99 seconds in La Chaux-de-Fonds in July 2024.[14]
He was selected for the South African team for the 2024 Olympic Games.[15] He competed in the 100 metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he reached the semi-finals.[16] Unfortunately, in the Paris 2024 200m heats, Richardson pulled his hamstring[17] and had to walk the rest of the race, finishing over 30 seconds slower than his heatmates,[18] then withdraw from the repechage round[17] and the rest of the 2024 Olympics.[19]
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