Benjamin Richardson (sprinter)

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]

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]