libAustralian cycling great Scott McGrory says the community is “flat and deflated” after Paris 2024 medallist Matthew Richardson announced he would henceforth represent Great Britain at international events.
On Monday it was confirmed that the 25-year-old, who was born in England before relocating to Perth when he was nine, would change allegiances.
Representing the green and gold in Paris, Richardson won silver in the men’s keirin and men’s sprint, and bronze in the men’s team sprint.
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Speaking on Nine’s Today, former Olympic cyclist McGrory was still grappling with the news.
”Most of the cycling community, especially those of us who are close to the program and me as a commentator at the Olympic Games for Channel 9, are shocked,” he said.
“We are feeling very flat and quite deflated at the moment.
“If you go back three years ago to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, [Richardson] finished 22nd [in the men’s sprint]. He was second behind Harrie Lavreysen in Paris who is going on to be the greatest of all time in his discipline possibly.
“The gap has really narrowed significantly, it’s so close now between Matt and Harrie that we can see that in the next couple of years, with his trajectory and being a couple of years younger, he may go past Harrie Lavreysen and that’s heading towards the next Olympic games [in Los Angeles].
“We get emotionally invested in these athletes … I’ve been there myself so we go on the journey with them. So when something like this happens, it really is deflation and we are very shocked.”
Richardson’s defection has thrust the funding of Australia’s track cycling program into the spotlight with the amount of support and money on offer being called into question.
While appreciative of what cycling in Australia already receives, AusCycling executive general manager Jesse Korf admitted it is difficult for Australia’s track cycling program to compete with the larger budgets of other nations.
“On one hand, it’s his right under the International Cycling Federation but in that same breath, there was a lot of support that went into Matt from the team, the coaches and the athletes,” he said.
“The fact of the matter is Great Britain runs on roughly triple the budget that we have.
“We’re incredibly grateful for the federal [government] support that we do get and the funding the AOC and AIS which is incredible.”
McGrory added: “It’s really unfortunate for our track sprinters in particular because they don’t have the opportunity to go on a professional road team and ride the Tour de France … They are typically dependent on government funding as full-time athletes”.
Despite the monetary pull, McGrory did not believe Richardson was departing solely for financial reasons.
His girlfriend, cycling world champion Emma Finucane, is also British.
“There are a lot of other factors to this but it is a little bit sad that we couldn’t offer more financially to hold onto our very best athlete,” McGory said.
