'Let's risk everything': The inside story of Matthew Richardson's switch to GB

It was the bombshell that only a handful of people knew was coming. The announcement on Monday morning of track sprinter Matthew Richardson's switch from Australia to Great Britain came as a surprise to many, even his housemate, but marked the culmination of months of secret conversations, and the beginning of a new chapter. 

A little over a week had passed since Richardson won two silvers and a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, dressed in green and gold. Then came the press releases, and an Instagram post, the 25-year-old hailing "the end of an era" and his shock decision to change his racing nationality.

That decision, Richardson told Cycling Weekly, was one he first truly considered at the end of 2023.

"Last December, I sat down and had a good think about it," he said. "I've always talked about doing it, but talking about doing it and actually doing it are two completely different things. I decided let's just do it. Let's risk everything and try and ride for GB. That's the decision I came to.

"I approached [GB head coach] Jon Norfolk in Adelaide when they came over for the World Cup [in Febraury], and just started the process. I basically just sat him down, asked him what he thought, and if it was a possibility to come race for GB after the Games."

As it turned out, it was. Richardson's conversation with Norfolk got the ball rolling on a formality that took months to complete. Switching allegiances is not unprecedented in cycling, and is permitted in cases where a rider loses their civil nationality, was a minor when they first applied for a licence, or holds dual citizenship. In 2022 for example, Mikhail Yakovlev and Pavel Sivakov both switched from Russia to Israel and France respectively.  

"I had to lodge the application to the UCI three months ago," Richardson explained. "Then you just wait, I guess. I was very clear with them that I didn't want Australia to be notified before the Olympics, so we agreed on a date that it was going to happen.

"The Olympics was the easiest bit because everyone was so distracted with racing. The hard bit was living with one of my teammates, Tom [Cornish], at the time, all year basically, and trying to move my entire life to the other side of the world and him not finding out."

Richardson broke the news to Cornish on Monday morning, moments before the official announcement. "Unfortunately, he had already been told, which is a bit of shame. I had everything planned out," he said. 

"I called each one of them [my teammates] and apologised for them not being able to hear it from me first. A few were disappointed, a few understood and wished me the best. It was actually alright. Those conversations are never going to be easy to have."

Born in Maidstone, Kent, Richardson moved to Australia with his family when he was nine years old. He took up cycling as a teenager, having previously been a gymnast, and first represented Australia at the Junior Track World Championships in 2017. Throughout his racing career, he has always maintained dual citizenship, and kept his British passport. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly in 2022, Richardson said the thought of racing for GB had "crossed my mind", but nobody had ever asked him to switch. "Chris Hoy said a few of the British coaches may be kicking themselves they never picked me up earlier," he said at the time.   

Now, almost two years on, the 25-year-old revealed he had been thinking of representing GB ever since his first Junior Worlds. "This is something that I wanted to do for a long time," he said. "The absolute motivator for me to move to GB is purely because it is my dream to race for Great Britain.

"When I was a young lad, I watched Chris Hoy win Olympic gold medals in Beijing and a moment like that really sticks with a young lad. Everything else that comes off that, whether it's funding, support, equipment, is just an added bonus to the real motivator that was just a kid with a dream wanting to race his bike for Great Britain."

Richardson won't have to wait long for his first race in GB colours, either. Although he is ineligible for October's Track World Championships and February's European Championships, as per UCI rules, he has been given the green light to race the Track Champions League, which begins at the end of November. 

"I'm super excited about it," the former sprint league winner said. "It's going to be nice to kind of ease into it a little bit with Champs League and have a bit of fun. It's also an added bonus the last two rounds are in London, so it'll be my first British home crowd."

From then, he'll work under the tutelage of one of his "heroes", current GB sprint coach and seven-time Olympic champion Jason Kenny, towards the LA Games in 2028. "It's amazing," Richardson said. "I just sit back, pinch myself and think, 'What is my life?' It's going to be fantastic.

"There's obviously no secret that GB have a high level of support for the riders, and obviously I'll look to utilise that to become a better rider and a better athlete."