Matthew Richardson brushes off Australia ban and sanctions after Great Britain switch - 'Just words on a piece of paper'
By Flo Clifford
Published 27/11/2024 at 09:48 GMT
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Track star Matthew Richardson has dismissed sanctions imposed on him by Australian cycling's national body as "just words on a piece of paper". The sprinter won three Olympic medals for Australia in Paris and switched to representing Great Britain after the Games. AusCycling has banned him from ever riding in green and gold again, which he compared to being fired three months after leaving a job.
'It's domination' - Richardson topples Lavreysen for win in men's sprint at Track Champions League
Video credit: TNT Sports
Star track sprinter Matthew Richardson has addressed the fallout from his high-profile switch from representing Australia, saying sanctions imposed by the national body "are just words on a piece of paper" that "don't really carry much weight".
Richardson, who was born in Kent, switched to riding for Great Britain this summer, having formerly represented Australia and winning three medals in green and gold at the Paris Olympics.
The swap has been acrimonious, with AusCycling, the national governing body, attempting unsuccessfully to ban him from all competition for two years and releasing a statement on Monday banning him from ever riding for Australia again.
"I didn’t know it was coming," Richardson said, speaking at a UCI Track Champions League press conference on Tuesday before this weekend's racing in Apeldoorn. "I found it quite interesting. I guess they were just keen to get one last final blow, one last final word. But ultimately, I had left three months ago.
"I’m not sure where the confusion, I guess, has come from, but I thought it was pretty obvious that, by wanting to ride for GB for the rest of my career, that would mean I didn’t want to ride for Australia for the rest of my career. It’s almost like you leave your job, and three months later, they go, ‘well, you’re fired’! It's like, 'well, I already left'.
"It’s just words on a piece of paper, really, and they don’t really carry much weight for me."
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Finucane and Richardson lead sprint rankings after Track Champions League round one
Video credit: TNT Sports
AusCycling said their review of the circumstances of his departure "determined he acted in a way which conflicted with the values of AusCycling, the Australian National Team and the broader cycling community".
The national body alleged that Richardson did not tell his team-mates or AusCycling of the planned nationality switch until after the Olympic Games, and that he had attempted to take a custom bike, skinsuit and other kit with him to Britain, which "represented an unacceptable risk to AusCycling's intellectual property".
The sanctions imposed also include ensuring the 25-year-old will be ineligible for any AusCycling-related awards, although it conceded an attempt to ban him from all competition – according to a clause in his original contract – was "deemed legally unenforceable".
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"It's hard to let someone have one side of the story without people understanding the whole picture," Richardson added. "It's not so much relief [about the failed two-year ban], I knew a long time ago that that was never going to be upheld.
"The UCI can’t enforce regulations on me that I haven’t signed for. That was just words on a piece of paper that, again, don’t hold any weight. As they [AusCycling] also said in that review, they’re going to have to go back and have a look at that clause, which basically just admits that they’re going to have to change it or get rid of it, or whatever, because it clearly has no meaning."
Regulations by cycling's governing body, the UCI, mean a rider cannot compete in the first World Championships and Continental Championships immediately following any nationality change. Richardson therefore sat out the World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark, in October, and will miss the European Championships next February, but will be eligible to ride in Great Britain colours after that.
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A LED board displays Matthew Richardson of Great Britain name's after he wins the sprint during the UCI Track Champions League - Round 1 at National Velodrome on November 23, 2024 in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.
Image credit: Getty Images
Richardson, who moved to Australia when he was nine, also said in the press conference that he had returned all of his AusCycling bikes and gear.
"The intellectual property one was an interesting one," he added. "I don't know where [the claim about] my custom Argon [bike] has come from – it would have been lovely to have had a custom Argon at the Olympics, if that existed, but unfortunately, just an off-the-shelf Argon that anyone could buy. I don't have any of that, that has all been returned.
"The thing is, if I had spoken to my coach and said, ‘I’m going to spend six months in Europe to the end of the year, but I’m not going to bring any bike’. He would have gone, ‘what are you doing then? That’s very strange’. Things came with me, that was how it went, and everything has been returned. That’s the full story there," he said.
Richardson can compete independently until his ban on major competitions expires, and is riding in the Great Britain kit at the Track Champions League, which kicked off last weekend in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the velodrome used at the Olympics this summer.
Widely regarded as one of the top two male track sprinters in the world alongside Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen, Richardson blew away the competition on the opening night. The two-time Commonwealth Games champion won both the sprint and keirin races he participated in, and he tops the Sprint league standings at this early stage of the competition.
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Archibald wins elimination race to complete ‘magnificent’ opening night
Video credit: TNT Sports
"It was a really special feeling," he said, of riding in the GB jersey for the first time. "Hearing the announcer call my name representing Great Britain gave me chills."
Richardson also expressed hopes that the saga would now come to an end, and that the bitterness surrounding his departure would subside.
"I’ve always been respectful to AusCycling, and been very thankful for everything they did for me over the years," he said.
"I really did think I repaid them with all the results, you know, the World Championship, the three Olympic medals that I returned. Unfortunately, noise was created around the issue, but I sleep well at night knowing that that noise didn’t come from myself.
"Hopefully, in the years to come, myself and AusCycling can come to some sort of understanding. But for now, I definitely hope, there we go, they’ve had their final word. Hopefully, we can just put it to bed and just enjoy riding in circles."
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