Australia’s former world champion Katherine Bates says some athletes at AusCycling are “feeling a little bit ripped off” following Matt Richardson’s announcement on Monday that he is changing nationalities and will henceforth compete for Great Britain.
Richardson, who won three medals for Australia at the recent Paris Olympics, including silvers in both the individual sprint events, was born in Maidstone in Kent, to British parents. He moved to Western Australia when he was nine because of his father’s job.
The 25 year-old told Telegraph Sport on Monday that he was “hugely grateful” to everyone at AusCycling for their support over the years and “would never want to disrespect” Australia. But he said he had grown up a supporter of Team GB and that it gradually dawned on him that he would regret it forever if he did not try to pursue his dream.
Richardson added that he expected a certain amount of backlash in Australia, but that he hoped his friends and teammates would understand why it was so important to him.
“I expect people to be unhappy or disappointed or sad, or, you know, frustrated or whatever the emotion is,” he said. “It’s understandable. But, yeah, I’ll try and keep everything as positive as possible. Otherwise it will kind of eat away at me a little bit.”
Bates, who won the world points race title in 2007 and was a two-time Commonwealth champion in the same discipline, admitted Richardson’s defection stung, likening it to “a break-up you never saw coming”.
“There’s a lot of people this morning who just can’t believe it and some who are feeling, personally, quite let down because they were blindsided by it,” she told the ABC Sport Daily podcast. “Others who are feeling a little bit ripped off because supporting him over the years has come at the direct cost of supporting other athletes.”
Bates acknowledged that Richardson was well within his rights to switch nationalities but questioned why he had chosen to make the move now rather than earlier in his career. Richardson represented Australia in both the Tokyo and Paris Games.
“I think the tie to your country is very strong but, in saying that, if there is that tie, then I’m not really sure why he wouldn’t have made this leap years ago,” Bates said. “It doesn’t really sit right with me that if that was the case all along why he went down this path with AusCycling.”
Richardson, who must sit out the world championships later this year as well as the European championships early next year as part of his qualifying process, will stay with his girlfriend, Olympic gold medallist Emma Finucane, while he finds a place to rent in Manchester near to the national velodrome.
“I feel super blessed and lucky to have the opportunity to fulfil my dream,” he said.
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