Rick Say

Rick Say

Personal information
Full name	Richard Say
Nickname(s)	Rick
Nationality	Canada
Born	(1979-05-18) May 18, 1979 Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle
College team	University of Victoria
Medal record World Championships (LC) Silver 2005 Montreal 4×100 m freestyle Silver 2005 Montreal 4×200 m freestyle Bronze 2007 Melbourne 4×200 m freestyle World Championships (SC) Silver 2004 Indianapolis 200 m freestyle Bronze 1999 Hong Kong 4×200 m freestyle Bronze 2004 Indianapolis 100 m freestyle Bronze 2004 Indianapolis 4×100 m freestyle Pan Pacific Championships Silver 2006 Victoria 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 1999 Sydney 4×200 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Yokohama 4×100 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Yokohama 4×200 m freestyle Commonwealth Games Silver 2002 Manchester 4×200 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Manchester 200 m freestyle Bronze 2002 Manchester 4×100 m freestyle Pan American Games Bronze 1999 Winnipeg 400 m freestyle Bronze 1999 Winnipeg 4×200 m freestyle

Richard "Rick" Say (born May 18, 1979 in Salmon Arm, British Columbia, Canada) is a 3-time Olympic and National Record holding swimmer 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 and started to swim seriously. As of 2006, he swims full-time at the Pacific-Sport National Training Centre in Victoria.

Say has been a mainstay of the National Swim Team since 1998. His career to date includes 20 national titles and Canadian Records in 5 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, 2004 and 2008), reaching the finals of the 200 freestyle in 2000 and 2004. He has been to four World Championships (2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007) where he was an integral part of Canada's relays which swam in the finals.

At the 2004 World Short Course Championships, Say won 3 medals – a silver in the 200 free, and bronze in both the 100 free and 4x100 free relay, both in Canadian record time. At the Commonwealth Games (1998, 2002) he earned 1 silver medal and 2 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 freestyle. At the Pan American Games (1999) he was a dual bronze medalist in the 400 free and 4x200 free relay.

At the 2004 Olympics, Say created a minor controversy after the 4×200 m freestyle relay immediately in the post-race interview which was aired live on national television. 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 criticized his team's performance in harsh terms saying "I was trying to make up for the mistakes our team made earlier in the race. I'm pissed off. It's my job as a leader on this team to get these guys up and get them ready for this race, and obviously I let them down. It's unacceptable. This is crap".^[1]

Say's 4x200m Free 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, from Vancouver, British Columbia. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games 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, he was a member of the Canadian team that finished sixth 4x100m Freestyle event and fifth in the 4x200m.

References