Olympic cyclist Matthew Richardson insists ‘I’m living my dream’ after defecting from Australia, who he won three medals for in Paris to represent the country of his birth

Matthew Richardson is stood proudly in the middle of the velodrome in London, wearing a red, white and blue skinsuit, clutching a Union Flag. ‘I’m all about this,’ the 25-year-old tells Mail Sport. ‘I absolutely love it. I’m living my dream.’

For Richardson, that dream is – and has always been – to ride his bike for Great Britain. The problem was, in order to represent the country of his birth, he had to defect from Australia, who he won three Olympic medals for in the summer and where he had lived since the age of nine.

No wonder, then, that his move – which was announced just a week after Paris 2024 – caused such an uproar Down Under.

It was likened to a ‘break-up you never saw coming’ by Australia’s former world champion Katherine Bates, who said some of the country’s riders were feeling ‘ripped off’. AusCycling also hit out at their former sprint star and banned him from racing for them ever again.

A perplexed Richardson humorously dismissed that sanction as ‘like leaving your job and three months later they go, “Well, you’re fired”’. It has been more difficult, however, to brush off the public condemnation he has faced.

‘It’s never easy, is it?’ he admits. ‘If people are always talking about you in a negative way, it’s not the most pleasant thing in the world.

‘But everyone’s entitled to their own opinions, as I am entitled to make my own career choices. You can’t make everyone happy. But people who know me haven’t said anything negative because they actually know why I’ve done what I’ve done.’

So why has he done it? From the outside, there looks to be plenty of good reasons. Professionally, Richardson will now be racing for the team with the best funding, who have won the most track medals at each of last five Olympics. Personally, he will be living much closer to his Welsh girlfriend Emma Finucane, a fellow sprint cyclist and winner of three medals in Paris.

Richardson insists, though, that his decision was purely down to the emotional pull of his motherland, having been born in Maidstone to British parents, only moving to Perth because of his father’s job.

‘The main thing was fact that I get to race for the country that I was born in,’ he says. ‘Anything else that comes off the back of that just so happens to be a bonus.

‘The UK has always been part of who I am. Emotionally, it was hard when we moved out to Australia. I remember being really sad about moving away from all my friends and family. My grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins all still live in Maidstone.

‘Obviously you settle into a new place and make new friends, but I always felt connected to the UK and to my ultimate home. Keeping the British passport the whole time was my parents just being smart.’

Richardson’s first sporting love was actually gymnastics, but an elbow injury saw him turn his attention to track cycling in Perth in his early teens. He came through the junior ranks before making his senior Australia debut in 2019 and his Olympic bow two years later in Tokyo, finishing fourth in the team sprint.

At Paris 2024, Richardson claimed silvers in the sprint and keirin and bronze in the team sprint. However, he competed at those Games already knowing they would be his last wearing green and gold, having secretly signed off his switch to Britain before the Olympics following five months of confidential talks.

‘It wasn’t that difficult keeping it a secret,’ insists Richardson. ‘I had made the decision and then I just focused on the Olympics and doing my best for Australia.

‘I demonstrated that there wasn’t a single moment of hesitation or lack of commitment. I had the best male sprint individual results (by an Australian) since 2004. So there was absolutely no instance of me being complacent in the lead up to the Olympics, even though I knew what my plans were after. I really gave my all for Australia.’

Richardson packed up his life in Australia and moved to Manchester in August, but was ineligible to race for his new country at the World Championships in October under the rules of cycling’s international governing body.

His first international outing for Britain will not be until the Track Nations Cup in the spring. However, he was announced as a British rider 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 keirin.

‘That was another pinch myself moment,’ he says. ‘The first one was when I first went to the track in Manchester and got all of my kit. I remember putting on the British skinsuit and it was just like, “Wow, I’m actually here and I’m actually wearing this kit”. It’s just surreal that this is all happening.’

Another surreal experience for Richardson came when six-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy – who has tragically been diagnosed with terminal cancer – invited him for coffee at his house.

‘The earliest memory I have of Olympic sport was being on holiday in France and watching him win the keirin final in 2008,’ he recalls. ‘So from watching him in 2008 and then him messaging me a couple of weeks after I moved saying, “Let’s catch up for coffee”, it was just like, “What is my life?”.

‘He invited me over to his house and we just had a chat. He said, “Just block out the noise, you are where you want it to be”. To have the support of someone like Chris, it’s just an amazing feeling. He’s a phenomenal person, he was a phenomenal athlete, and I feel lucky enough to now call him a friend.’

Hoy, though, is not the only one of Richardson’s Olympic heroes that he can now call a friend. Jason Kenny, who surpassed 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 the best Olympians ever for GB, so it’s really inspiring for me knowing what he’s achieved and it’s about trying to get as much out of him that I possibly can,’ he says.

‘After he won the keirin final in Tokyo, I was like, “That was amazing, he’s just won seven Olympic gold medals, I’m going to get him to sign my race number”. It was sick.

‘I did ask him about it recently and he doesn’t remember it, which is a bit of a shame. But that’ll be a moment I cherish.’

Kenny, of course, was in the same British team as his wife Laura, who also claimed five Olympic golds. Now, though, Richardson and Finucane are being talked about as cycling’s new golden couple, having won six medals between them in Paris – with the target of a combined six golds in Los Angeles in 2028.

‘If people are talking about you in that sort of way, it means that you’re probably doing something, right?’ adds Richardson. ‘It will be cool to be working towards the same goals as her. There are three races to win and the goal will be to try and win them all.’