Richard William Roth (born September 26, 1947) is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events.

In high school he swam for Menlo-Atherton where he won eight Southern Pacific Athletic League High School Conference titles under Coach Robert K. Gaughran, a former swim team captain and water polo player at College of the Pacific (and younger brother of Roth's Hall of Fame Stanford swim coach Jim Gaughran).

[2] In October 1964, Roth swam in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, where he won the gold medal for his first-place finish in the men's 400-meter individual medley, setting a new world record of 4:45.4 in the event final.

[2] Unbeknownst to the crowd Roth had suffered an attack of acute appendicitis the night before but refused surgery so he could compete and subsequently take the gold.

[4] Fully recovered from his previous tendonitis, Roth won two golds in the 1965 Summer Universiade in August in Budapest, Hungary, one in the 400-meter individual medley, and one in the 4x 200-meter freestyle relay.