Richard Say (born May 18, 1979) is a three-time Olympic and National record-holding

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from Canada. Say swam as a child for the Salmon Arm Sockeye Swim Club with his two brothers and two sisters. At the age of 18, he began attending the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

and started to swim seriously. Say became a mainstay of the National Swim Team, starting in 1998. His career to date includes 20 national titles and Canadian records in five individual events – 100 free, 200 free, 400 free (scm), 200 free and 400 free (lcm) – not to mention the vast number of national relay records he has been involved in. He has competed for Canada at three Olympic Games (

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

), reaching the finals of the 200 freestyle in 2000 and 2004. He has been to four World Championships (

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

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) where he was an integral part of Canada's relays which swam in the finals. At the 2004 World Short Course Championships, Say won three medals – a silver in the 200 free, and bronze in both the 100-metre freestyle and 4x100-metre freestyle relay, both in Canadian record time. At the Commonwealth Games (1998, 2002) he earned one silver medal and two bronze medals. He has been to two Pan Pacific Championships (1999, 2002), winning 3 bronze medals, all in relays and placing a career high 4th for the 200-metre freestyle. At the

1999 Pan American Games The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...

, he was a dual bronze medalist in the 400-metre freestyle and 4x200-metre free relay. At the 2004 Olympics, Say created a minor controversy after the 4×200-metre freestyle relay immediately in the post-race interview which was aired live on national television, when he said that he was "pissed off at not being able to make up for my teammates' mistakes". The other three team members - Brent Hayden, Brian Johns, and Andrew Hurd - expressed disappointment not in the effort, which broke the Canadian record by over 3.5 seconds, but only in the 5th-place finish which was out of the medals. Say's 4x200-metre freestyle relay, however, bounced back to win two silver medals at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal in 2005. Since 2004, Say has been less successful, losing his national 200-metre freestyle title to

Brent Hayden Brent Matthew Hayden (born October 21, 1983) is a Canadian competitive swimmer. Representing Canada for a decade, Hayden is regarded as the fastest swimmer in Canadian history. Hayden won a bronze medal in the 100 m freestyle at the 2012 Summ ...

, from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia. At the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

in Melbourne, Australia, Say swam a world-class time of 1:48, but finished out of the medals in fourth place. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

, he was a member of the Canadian teams that finished sixth in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay and fifth in the 4x200-metre freestyle relay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Say, Rick 1979 births Living people Canadian male freestyle swimmers Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Olympic swimmers of Canada People from Salmon Arm Sportspeople from British Columbia Swimmers at the 1999 Pan American Games Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Pan American Games medalists in swimming Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Swimmers at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games

See also

References