‘Just words on a piece of paper’ – Matthew Richardson responds to Australia ban and sanctions

Track sprinter Matthew Richardson has said that the sanctions imposed on him by Australia, including a lifetime ban from rejoining the squad, are “just words on a piece of paper” that “don’t really carry much weight”.

The 25-year-old swapped racing nationality after winning three Olympic medals for Australia this summer, changing to Great Britain, his country of birth.

On Monday, AusCycling, Australia’s national body, released a statement about Richardson’s switch, saying he would not be permitted to rejoin the squad “at any point in the future”, and questioning his values.

Speaking on Tuesday, the Kent-born sprinter said the statement came as “a bit of a shock”.

“I didn’t know it as coming,” Richardson said in a UCI Track Champions League press conference. “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 just words on a piece of paper, really, and they don’t really carry much weight for me,” he added.

As part of AusCycling’s review, the body said it looked into imposing a two-year non-competition clause, but found that such a ban was “legally unenforceable”.

Richardson said he knew “a long time ago” that a two-year ban would not be possible.

“The UCI can’t enforce regulations on me that I haven’t signed for,” he said. “That was just words on a piece of paper that, again, don’t hold any weight. As they 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.”

Born in Maidstone, Richardson moved to Australia with his family when he was nine years old, and later joined the country’s talent pathway. He has since competed at two Olympic Games in green and gold, winning two silvers and a bronze medal in Paris.

Following this summer’s Games, but before the announcement of his nationality swap on August 19, AusCycling said Richardson asked to take a bike, cockpit and skinsuit to Great Britain, which posed an “unacceptable risk to AusCycling’s intellectual property”.

Richardson responded to this claim by saying all the equipment has now 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.

The 25-year-old made his debut in GB colours on round one of the Track Champions League on Saturday, where he won both races in which he competed. Representing his birth country, he said, was a “really special moment – it gave me chills”.

He’s now hopeful the relationship between him and Australia will be repaired.

“I’ve always been respectful to AusCycling, and been very thankful for everything they did for me over the years,” Richardson 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, there we go. They’ve had their final word. Hopefully we can just put it to bed and just enjoy riding in circles.”