[5] In 2007, he raced at the World Rowing U23 Championships in Glasgow in a coxless four with Sebastian Schmidt, Fokke Beckmann and Kristof Wilke where they won a gold medal.

In Autumn 2007, that crew finished in second place at the European Rowing Championships in Poznań after taking a long break from the sport.

[5] During this time, the seating of the German men's eight was reorganised prior to the 2008 Olympic Games, Schmidt was selected as a travelling reserve for Beijing.

He raced in the semi-finals with Marco Neumann, Gregor Hauffe, and Urs Käufer in the coxless four as Filip Adamski and Toni Seifert were ill.

[5] At the 2012 Olympics in London, the favoured German eight won the gold medal with a crew consisting of Filip Adamski, Andreas Kuffner, Eric Johannesen, Maximilian Reinelt, Richard Schmidt, Lukas Müller, Florian Mennigen, Kristof Wilke and coxswain Martin Sauer.

[2][5] After his first Olympic success, Richard Schmidt rowed on and remained constant in the German eight who since 2010 have been strong, permanent rivals against the British men's eight.

[5] In 2017 Schmidt, Malte Jakschik, the stroke Hannes Ocik and coxswain Martin Sauer were the only members of the German Olympic eight who rowed on.