Matthew Richardson stands proudly in the middle of London’s velodrome, dressed in a red, white and blue jumpsuit and holding a Union flag. “I’m totally interested in this,” the 25-year-old tells Mail Sport. ‘I absolutely love it. I’m living my dream.’
For Richardson, that dream is, and always has been, cycling around Britain. The problem was that, to represent his native country, he had to leave Australia, where he won three Olympic medals in the summer and where he had lived since he was nine years old.
It is not surprising, then, that his decision, announced just a week after Paris 2024, has caused such a stir in Australia.
Former Australian world champion Katherine Bates likened it to a “breakup you never saw coming”, and said some of the country’s cyclists felt “ripped off”.
AusCycling also attacked their former sprint star and banned him from competing for them again.
A perplexed Richardson humorously dismissed that sanction as “like quitting your job and three months later they say, ‘Well, you’re fired.'” But it’s been harder to ignore the public condemnation he’s faced.
Matthew Richardson’s decision to switch his allegiance from Australia to Britain has caused quite a stir in Australia.
The 25-year-old told Mail Sport he is “living the dream” after being able to represent his home country.
Richardson won three medals at the Paris Olympics wearing Australia’s green and gold
“It’s never easy, is it?” admits. ‘If people always talk about you in a negative way, it’s not the nicest thing in the world.
‘But everyone has the right to have their own opinion, just as I have the right to make my own professional decisions. You can’t make everyone happy. But people who know me haven’t said anything negative because they really know why I did what I did.’
So why has he done it? From the outside, there seem to be many good reasons. Professionally, Richardson will now compete for the most well-funded team that has won the most track medals in each of the last five Olympic Games. Personally, he will live much closer to his Welsh girlfriend Emma Finucane, also a sprint cyclist and winner of three medals in Paris.
Richardson insists, however, that his decision was driven solely by the emotional pull of his homeland, having been born in Maidstone to British parents and moving to Perth only for his father’s job.
“The main thing was being able to compete for the country I was born in,” he says. ‘Anything else that comes from that turns out to be an advantage.
‘The UK has always been part of who I am. Emotionally, it was difficult when we moved to Australia. I remember being very sad to be away from all my friends and family. My grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins still live in Maidstone.
‘Obviously you settle into a new place and make new friends, but I always felt connected to the UK and my forever home. Keeping the British passport all the time was my parents just being smart.
Richardson’s first sporting love was actually gymnastics, but an elbow injury caused him to turn his attention to track cycling in Perth as a teenager. He came through the youth ranks before making his senior debut in Australia in 2019 and his Olympic debut two years later in Tokyo, finishing fourth in the team sprint.
Richardson insisted that his decision was due solely to the emotional pull of his homeland, having been born in Maidstone to British parents.
The move will allow Richardson to live much closer to his Welsh girlfriend Emma Finucane, also a sprint cyclist and winner of three medals in Paris.
At Paris 2024, Richardson won silver in the sprint and keirin and bronze in the team sprint. However, he competed in those Games knowing that they would be the last to wear green and gold, having secretly signed his move to Great Britain before the Olympics after five months of confidential talks.
“It wasn’t that hard to keep it a secret,” Richardson insists. ‘I had made the decision and then focused on the Olympics and doing the best I could for Australia.
‘I demonstrated that there was not a single moment of hesitation or lack of commitment. I had the best men’s individual sprint results (for an Australian) since 2004. So there was absolutely no case of me being complacent in the run-up to the Olympics, even though I knew what my plans were. “I really gave it my all for Australia.”
Richardson packed his bags in Australia and moved to Manchester in August, but was ineligible to compete for his new country at the World Championships in October under the rules of cycling’s international governing body.
His first international outing for Great Britain will not be until the Track Nations Cup in the spring. However, he was announced as a British runner and wore red, white and blue for the first time at last month’s Track Champions League in Paris, where he beat his Olympic nemesis Harrie Lavreysen to win both the sprint and the keirin.
“That was another pinch-me moment,” he says. ‘The first was when I first went to the track in Manchester and bought all my equipment. I remember putting on the British suit and thinking, “Wow, I’m actually here and I’m wearing this uniform.” “It’s just surreal that all of this is happening.”
Another surreal experience for Richardson came when six-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy, who was tragically diagnosed with terminal cancer, invited him for coffee at his home.
“The first memory I have of Olympic sport is being on holiday in France and watching him win the keirin final in 2008,” he recalls. “So seeing him in 2008 and then messaging me a couple of weeks after I moved saying, ‘Let’s go get coffee,’ I thought, ‘What’s my life?’
The British-born cyclist already knew that the Paris Games would be the last he would wear green and gold
Another surreal experience for Richardson came when six-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Chris Hoy
Jason Kenny, who overtook Hoy as Britain’s most successful Olympian when he won his seventh gold in Tokyo, is now Richardson’s coach at British Cycling.
“He invited me to his house and we just chatted. He said: “It just blocks out the noise, you’re where you want it to be.” Having the support of someone like Chris is just an incredible feeling. “He’s a phenomenal person, he was a phenomenal athlete and I feel fortunate enough to be able to call him a friend now.”
Today, however, he is not the only one of Richardson’s Olympic heroes he can now call a friend. Jason Kenny, who overtook Hoy as Britain’s most successful Olympian when he won his seventh gold in Tokyo, is now Richardson’s coach at British Cycling.
“He’s one of GB’s greatest Olympians so it’s really inspiring for me to know what he’s achieved and it’s about trying to get as much out of it as I can,” he says.
“After he won the keirin final in Tokyo, I thought, ‘That was amazing, he just won seven Olympic gold medals, I’m going to get him to sign my race number.'” I was sick.
‘I asked him about it recently and he doesn’t remember it, which is a bit embarrassing. But that will be a moment I treasure.”
Kenny, of course, was on the same British team as his wife Laura, who also won five Olympic golds. Now, however, Richardson and Finucane are being talked about as cycling’s new golden couple, having won six medals between them in Paris, with the aim of achieving a combined six golds in Los Angeles in 2028.
“If people talk about you that way, it means you’re probably doing something, right?” adds Richardson. ‘It will be great to work for the same goals as her. There are three races to win and the objective will be to try to win them all.”