The Secret Plan That Turned Richardson Into Briton – Sports News (Trending Perfect)

London: When Stephen Park optimistically predicted on the final day of the Olympics that Great Britain's men would reclaim the team sprint gold medal in Los Angeles in four years' time, some felt the British Cycling performance director was being overly optimistic.

For the second time in a row, Great Britain were beaten by the victorious Netherlands in the final of an event they once owned, with Dutch star rider Harry Lavriesen winning both the individual sprint and keirin titles in Paris. Lavriesen is just 27 years old.

But Park knew something the media didn’t. It was a closely guarded secret in the cycling world, known only to “a handful of people”: Australia’s Matt Richardson, who had won silver behind Lavresen in both the individual races, as well as setting the stage for the rapidly improving Australian men’s bronze medal in the team sprint, was in the final stages of changing his nationality to Great Britain.

Ratification of the switch, which took months to process, arrived from cycling's governing body, the UCI, on Monday, prompting Richardson to post an emotional Instagram post, ahead of a series of public statements from British Cycling and Cycling Australia.

For Richardson, who was born and raised in Maidstone, Kent, and moved to Australia at the age of nine because of his father's job, it marked the end of six months of undercover investigation, planning, stress, quietly packing up for Australia, and “having to tell little lies” even to his friends and team-mates.

“It's great to finally have it out,” Richardson admits in an exclusive interview with The Times of London. Telegraph“It was so hard to hide it from everyone. But I couldn’t be happier. I’m so excited now to start this next chapter of my life.”

In fact, Richardson, 25, has long wanted to race for his home country. And at the UCI Athletics World Championships in London 2022, which will be held at Lee Valley Cycling Park, less than 60 kilometres from where he grew up and attended gymnastics classes, he will be competing in the final. [an elbow injury eventually ended that career path]At his home in London, where his aunts, uncles, cousins ​​and grandparents still live, Richardson went so far as to tell reporters that he still held his British passport, and that he had “considered” changing his nationality.

This was after Sir Chris Hoy said in his match commentary that some British coaches might be “blaming themselves” for a coach’s escape. Richardson concluded the interview publicly by saying that “Australia will do the job” and that no one from British Cycling approached him because they “probably already know what the answer is going to be”. But privately he admits he was conflicted.

“I think in my mind it's something I've wanted to do for a long time, ever since I had my first international competition at the World Junior Championships. [in 2017]“I had that feeling, you know, when I saw the British team competing and I said, ‘Oh, this is going to be [amazing]…This feels like my country. This has just been something for the past seven years, something I've always kept in the back of my mind.

“Of course, at that time when I was asked about it [in 2022]“I couldn’t sit there in an Australian jersey in the media and say, ‘I want to race for Great Britain’. I wanted to respect Australia because they’ve done so much for me. I have so much respect for them. But they’ve always been there.”

Richardson says he finally decided to seriously consider it “around December last year”. Having made his Olympic debut in Tokyo, where Australia finished fourth in the men’s team sprint, it was the short turnaround in Paris that prompted him to decide not to compete sooner.

“I felt like we had some unfinished business in Tokyo, so I wanted to stay and really give it my all,” he says. “But I knew before the start of this year that it was time to make a decision. It was now or never. And now I made the decision. It was something I wanted to do for a long time. As long as I stayed true to myself, I knew it would be something I would never regret. Even if it didn’t work out, the only regret I would have was not trying.”

It was Richardson who set the wheels in motion. He had met John Norfolk, GB's assistant men's sprint coach, when the former GB national champion was training in Australia on their performance track.

When the cycling world descended on Adelaide for the opening round of the 2024 Nations Cup Track Races in February, Richardson jumped at the chance to get up close and personal. “Then John spoke to Sparky,” [Park]I met them on a tour of Hong Kong. [in March]”remember.”

“It was an interesting period. I was in Hong Kong with Australia but I snuck out for a little secret meeting, then I came back. But that was the only way I could do it. I wanted to know: ‘Is this going to be well received? Do the people in GB want me to be there?’ And they were, you know, very positive about it, which gave me confidence.”

It may or may not be a coincidence that Richardson began a relationship with Emma Finucane, a rising star in British track cycling, in January this year. Richardson says he plans to stay with the Welsh cyclist and her flatmate, track cyclist Jess Roberts, at least until he finds his own place. Although he doesn’t want to put too much pressure on their blossoming romance.

“Obviously my relationship with Emma is very new, and as you know, we’ve gone from living together remotely all year round to now living in the same place,” he says. “We don’t need the added stress of moving in together full-time. We just want to enjoy life, not add any unnecessary stress. We’ll be living within driving distance of each other, rather than 16,000 kilometres away. So that in itself will be really nice!”

Richardson is clearly excited, but he doesn't think his decision will be viewed negatively. He's not the first athlete to change nationalities, and he won't be the last.

Unlike sports such as football, where a player commits to a country once he has played a certain number of games for the first team, or rugby, where allegiance can only be changed after long periods of inactivity of years, cycling allows a change of nationality even after representing a country on the world stage.

UAE Team Emirates rider Pavel Sivakov, who held dual Russian and French citizenship, decided to switch from Russia to France in 2022 after the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

“I expect some backlash,” he says. “Like I said, I owe a lot to Cycling Australia. They’ve given me the opportunity to compete on the international stage. But for me, this is about chasing my dream. When I was growing up as a boy, it was always about Team GB. I remember Sir Chris winning in Beijing. I was in France on holiday and I remember watching him win gold in the keirin and being amazed.

Even in Tokyo, when Jason was [Kenny] “He won that amazing free kick, when he just took off from the front, won his seventh Olympic gold medal and made history, I was just amazed. I went straight to the pits. He was covering the media, and I asked him to sign my race number, and I said, ‘That was amazing!’ And now he’s coaching me. Honestly, it’s like a pinch to me.”

Richardson admits that Kenny, the men’s sprint coach, was one of the few people who knew about his plans before Paris. They had a phone conversation in which Kenny asked him about his goals and ambitions, and they planned to meet again soon. But he couldn’t tell anyone at Cycling Australia.

“I had to keep it that way, in case I got dropped from the squad or something,” he says. “I’m sure they wouldn’t. The Australian cycling team has been great. But, you know, it’s been tough. We’d sit and have meetings about what’s next after the Olympics, what’s next, all that kind of stuff. And I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, this is going to be tough, really tough.’”

“I expect a bit of a backlash.”

Matthew Richardson

Richardson sold his car and as many other expensive items as he could before heading to Europe “for as much as I could carry.” He admits his teammates were a bit puzzled. “A lot of them were like, ‘What is he doing? This isn’t his thing, like why would he just randomly downsize before the Olympics?’ I managed to come up with a little lie. But, yeah, obviously I hope they understand now.”

“As I said, I expect some people to feel unhappy, disappointed, sad, frustrated or whatever. It’s understandable. But I’m going to try to make everything as positive as possible. Otherwise it’s going to affect me a little bit. What I’m thinking is that as long as you know that Great Britain, the country I’m going to visit now, is welcoming to visitors in some ways, that’s the main thing that matters to me.”

As part of the UCI’s criteria for changing nationality, Richardson will not be allowed to compete for Great Britain at the upcoming track world championships in Denmark or next year’s European championships in Belgium in February. But he can race in the track champions league later this year. He says he can’t wait to pull on the Great Britain jersey when he is allowed to.

Richardson insists the future is bright for British speed racing. Asked about Park’s expectations in Los Angeles, he believes the big battle will actually be with the country he leaves behind. “I know Australia has some really strong talent,” he says.

“The system there is absolutely fantastic. If I had to judge now, I would say the gold medal final in Los Angeles will be between Great Britain and Australia. I am looking forward to the Dutch team thinking about Roy [van den Berg]34 or 35 or something like that. Jeffrey [Hoogland] “I'm 31 and I've had conversations with him about the possibility of retiring. If we can stay fit and healthy and Australia can do the same, I think that's where the battle will be. But I think Great Britain will win.”

What a great story. Richardson led his home country to victory over the country he coached. Any criticism he gets now, he can expect tenfold in Los Angeles. “It can be tough,” Richardson admits.

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“But as I say, I have nothing but respect for Australia. I expect them to step up in the next couple of years. I’m sure there will be some things that will make them say, ‘Look what you missed.’”

“But what people need to realise is that I’m not leaving Australia to achieve more success or win more medals. That’s not my motivation here. I’m just chasing my dream. Even if I lose every race for the next four years, I’ll still be chasing my dream.”

The Telegraph, London