It was the bombshell that solely a handful of individuals knew was coming. The announcement on Monday morning of observe sprinter Matthew Richardson’s change from Australia to Nice Britain got here as a shock to many, even his housemate, however marked the end result of months of secret conversations, and the start of a brand new chapter.
Just a little over per week had handed since Richardson gained two silvers and a bronze medal on the Paris Olympics, wearing inexperienced and gold. Then got here the press releases, and an Instagram put up, the 25-year-old hailing “the top of an period” and his shock determination to vary his racing nationality.
That call, Richardson instructed Biking Weekly, was one he first actually thought-about on the finish of 2023.
“Final December, I sat down and had give it some thought,” he stated. “I’ve all the time talked about doing it, however speaking about doing it and really doing it are two utterly various things. I made a decision let’s simply do it. Let’s danger all the pieces and try to experience for GB. That is the choice I got here to.
“I approached [GB head coach] Jon Norfolk in Adelaide once they came to visit for the World Cup [in Febraury], and simply began the method. I principally simply sat him down, requested him what he thought, and if it was a chance to return race for GB after the Video games.”
Because it turned out, it was. Richardson’s dialog with Norfolk acquired the ball rolling on a formality that took months to finish. Switching allegiances will not be unprecedented in biking, and is permitted in instances the place a rider loses their civil nationality, was a minor once they first utilized for a licence, or holds twin citizenship. In 2022 for instance, Mikhail Yakovlev and Pavel Sivakov each switched from Russia to Israel and France respectively.
“I needed to lodge the applying to the UCI three months in the past,” Richardson defined. “Then you definately simply wait, I suppose. I used to be very clear with them that I did not need Australia to be notified earlier than the Olympics, so we agreed on a date that it was going to occur.
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“The Olympics was the simplest bit as a result of everybody was so distracted with racing. The laborious bit was dwelling with one in every of my teammates, Tom [Cornish], on the time, all yr principally, and making an attempt to maneuver my whole life to the opposite aspect of the world and him not discovering out.”
Richardson broke the information to Cornish on Monday morning, moments earlier than the official announcement. “Sadly, he had already been instructed, which is a little bit of disgrace. I had all the pieces deliberate out,” he stated.
“I known as every one in every of them [my teammates] and apologised for them not with the ability to hear it from me first. A couple of had been disillusioned, a number of understood and wished me the perfect. It was truly alright. These conversations are by no means going to be straightforward to have.”
(Picture credit score: Zac Williams/SWpix)
Born in Maidstone, Kent, Richardson moved to Australia along with his household when he was 9 years previous. He took up biking as a teen, having beforehand been a gymnast, and first represented Australia on the Junior Monitor World Championships in 2017. All through his racing profession, he has all the time maintained twin citizenship, and saved his British passport.
Talking to Biking Weekly in 2022, Richardson stated the considered racing for GB had “crossed my thoughts”, however no person had ever requested him to change. “Chris Hoy stated a number of of the British coaches could also be kicking themselves they by no means picked me up earlier,” he stated on the time.
Now, two years on, the 25-year-old revealed he had been pondering of representing GB ever since his first Junior Worlds. “That is one thing that I wished to do for a very long time,” he stated. “Absolutely the motivator for me to maneuver to GB is solely as a result of it’s my dream to race for Nice Britain.
“Once I was a younger lad, I watched Chris Hoy win Olympic gold medals in Beijing and a second like that actually sticks with a younger lad. Every thing else that comes off that, whether or not it is funding, help, tools, is simply an added bonus to the true motivator that was only a child with a dream eager to race his bike for Nice Britain.”
Richardson will not have to attend lengthy for his first race in GB colors, both. Though he’s ineligible for October’s Monitor World Championships and February’s European Championships, as per UCI guidelines, he has been given the inexperienced gentle to race the Monitor Champions League, which begins on the finish of November.
“I am tremendous enthusiastic about it,” the previous dash league winner stated. “It’ll be good to form of ease into it a bit bit with Champs League and have a little bit of enjoyable. It is also an added bonus the final two rounds are in London, so it’s going to be my first British residence crowd.”
From then, he’ll work underneath the tutelage of one in every of his “heroes”, present GB dash coach and seven-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny, in the direction of the LA Video games in 2028. “It is superb,” Richardson stated. “I simply sit again, pinch myself and assume, ‘What’s my life?’ It’ll be incredible.
“There’s clearly no secret that GB have a excessive degree of help for the riders, and clearly I am going to look to utilise that to turn out to be a greater rider and a greater athlete.”
