Richmond, Michael

BORN AUGUST 13TH 1960 in Adelaide, the son of Les and Joyce, he attended Enfield High School from 1973 to 1977. Starting skating at 8, he rose through the sports levels to accept the honour of Australian flag bearer in the opening ceremony at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. His father presided over the Adelaide Tigers ice hockey Club and his mother, the Adelaide Speed Skating Association. He played ice hockey for three years with his brother, Shane, [1] but took up speed skating at 11 with the Adelaide Vikings, becoming the Australian Sub Junior Champion by 13.

Trained by Colin Coates, he began international competition at 15 in the USA and Canada, finishing last in every event. The outstanding skater at Lake Ida NZ in 1979, he was Australian Short Track Champion 10 years running. He won the Australian Championships many times, and set national records over 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters for 20 years until Richard Goerlitz broke them in 2004 and ’05.

At 17, he competed in the UK, finishing 6th overall in the Seniors, and from that time on he regularly finished among the top 6 or 8 in the World. At 20, on the eve of the Nationals in his final year at Kensington Park Community College, he said "Speed skating demands a combination of the strength of a weightlifter, the stamina of a cyclist, the speed of a runner and the skill of a skater." [1] A 10-year veteran, ranked eighth in the world, he was the second-fastest ice racer on the planet with a time of 46.6 sec for 500m, just 0.08 sec outside the world record. [2]

He won the North American and Dutch Championships in 1980, attributing his successes to three months training overseas on an outdoor surface. In 1981, training 2 hours a day, he broke World Records in the 500m and 1000m. At the World Championships in Paris that year he won the 500m and the 1000m finals, finishing 3rd overall.

He competed in Long Track at the Olympic Winter Games in 1980, 1984 and 1988. Still a teenager at Lake Placid, he skated in the 500, 1000 and 1500 metres events, with best placings of 32nd in the shortest and longest races where the American, Eric Heiden, won all five events. At the same events in Sarajevo, he improved on his best placing with 22nd in the 500 metres. Then at Calgary he improved further to 12th in the 1500 metres and 14th in the 1000 metres.

Richmond retired from skating in 1991 at 31 having competed at three Olympics and six Short Track Speed Skating World Championships — 1978, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’82, ’83. In a career that spanned 30 years, his best results were 17th in the 500m, 13th in the 1000m, and 11th in the 1500m, all at the 1988 Games. He was the second Australian to place in the top half of the field in a speed skating event.

Team Physiotherapist at the 1992 and ’94 Olympic Winter Games, he assisted the Australian skating team to the first Australian Winter Medal, Bronze in the 5000m Mens Relay. His Fit Life centre in the old Barton Vale Swimming Centre in Warwick St Enfield, won South Australian Fitness Centre of the Year in 2007-08. Richmond is an honoured member of the Australian Ice Racing Hall of Fame.