Family thrilled beyond words for Olympic star

Meg and Pete Richards celebrated their grandson winning an Olympic medal with a glass of Champgane

Olympic swimmer Matt Richards’ grandparents have been celebrating after he won a silver medal in the 200m freestyle race on Monday.

The couple cheered him on from their living room, wearing matching Team GB T-shirts.

His grandmother Meg Richards said she was worried many people had written him off, after he only qualified seventh fastest for the race.

Seeing him achieve a podium finish though had made her thrilled beyond words, she said.

Richards, from Droitwich, Worcestershire, missed out on the gold medal by just two hundredths of a second.

Grandfather Pete Richards said: “Looking at it, I wasn’t sure which one of them had got it.”

The couple joked that Romanian gold medal winner David Popovici must have longer arms and fingers to have reached the finish ahead of their grandson.

Mrs Richards commented there would be other chances for him to win medals – including two more races in Paris.

“He’s 21, and he’s just done something quite incredible,” she said.

He will race in the 100m freestyle on Tuesday and he will join teammates Duncan Scott and Tom Dean in the pool for the 4x200m relay, which also takes place on Tuesday.

His grandmother joked that she preferred the look of the silver medals better than the gold.

“Having seen them on the television, the gold does not look that marvellous,” she said.