Benjamin Richardson (sprinter)

Richardson was born in Waterford, Ireland. He was adopted and raised by his Ghanaian grandparents Osam and Beatrice when he was only 3 months old, and brought-up in South Africa where Osam was a career politician, and had moved to Mbombela in 1987.^[5] Richardson attended Nelspruit Primary School, TuksSport High School, and studied at the University of Pretoria in Pretoria.^[6][7][8]

In 2021, he won the silver medal in the 100 metres at the 2021 World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.^[9] 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.^[10]

In April 2022, he lowered his personal best over 100 metres to 10.08, Gaborone.^[8] In August 2022, he won the bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia.^[11]

In August 2023, he was the youngest member of the South African team selected for the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.^[12]

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.^[13] In June 2024, he won bronze in the 100 metres at the African Championships in Cameroon.^[14] 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.^[15]

He was selected for the South African team for the 2024 Olympic Games.^[16] He competed in the 100 metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he reached the semi-finals.^[17] Unfortunately, in the Paris 2024 200m heats, Richardson pulled his hamstring^[18] and had to walk the rest of the race, finishing over 30 seconds slower than his heatmates,^[19] then withdraw from the repechage round^[18] and the rest of the 2024 Olympics.^[20]

In 2025, Athletics Ireland submitted an application on behalf of Richardson to the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel to enable him to represent Ireland, the country of his birth, in international competition. That year, Richardson's seasons best in the 100 metres was 10.01 seconds, and 20.21 seconds, but he did run a wind-aided 19.79 seconds (+2.3m/s) in Geneva.^[21]