Brenton Rickard


Brenton Scott Rickard is a retired breaststroke swimmer from Australia. He emerged at the international level in 2006, swimming at the Commonwealth games. He has captured multiple Olympic and World Championship medals, as well as world and Commonwealth records. During this period he was coached by Vince Raleigh.
In 2009, he was Australian Institute of Sport Athlete of the Year.

Olympic Games

He arrived in Beijing as a medal contender and a serious threat for the gold medal in all three of his events. He set Australian, Commonwealth and Oceanic records, capturing silver medals in the 200-metre breaststroke and 4×100-metre medley relay, and finished 5th in the 100-metre breaststroke.
  • Beijing Olympics in Beijing, China:
  • * 200-metre breaststroke.
  • * 4×100-metre medley relay.
  • * 100-metre breaststroke.

FINA World Championships

Rickard's first World Championships were a good one, consistently capturing medals in all of his pet events. No Australian records were set, however his status in the world rankings leapfrogged.
In the final of the 100-metre breaststroke, Rickard won the gold medal and surpassed the old world record of 58.91 held by Kosuke Kitajima with a time of 58.58.

Career best times


Doping allegation

In 2020, the IOC began proceedings in the Court of Arbitration of Sport to void Rickard's results from the 2012 London Olympics after his urine samples from that competition tested positive for furosemide, a banned diuretic. If the IOC's findings were upheld, six Australian swimmers would have been stripped of their bronze medal in the medley, in which Rickard swam the breaststroke leg of the heat.
The proceedings were withdrawn on August 24, 2021.