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

For a second straight Games, GB had been well beaten by the all-conquering Dutch in the final of an event they once owned, with the Netherlands’ star rider Harrie Lavreysen picking up the individual sprint and keirin titles in Paris to boot. Lavreysen is only 27.

Park, though, knew something the media did not. Something which has been kept an extremely closely guarded secret in the world of cycling, known only to “a handful of people”: Australia’s Matt Richardson, who took silver behind Lavreysen in both individual disciplines as well as anchoring Australia’s fast-improving men to bronze in the team sprint, was already in the final stages of switching nationality to GB.

Ratification of the switch, which involved months of processing, arrived from the UCI, cycling’s governing body, on Monday morning, prompting an emotional Instagram post from Richardson, before a flurry of public statements from British Cycling and Cycling Australia.

‘It’s been so hard keeping it from everyone’

For Richardson, who was born and brought up in Maidstone, Kent, and who moved to Australia aged nine because of his father’s job, it marked the end of six months of furtive enquiries and planning and stress, of packing up his life in Australia on the quiet, of “having to tell small fibs” to even his friends and team-mates.

“It’s a massive stress relief finally having it out there,” Richardson admits in an exclusive interview with Telegraph Sport. “It’s been so hard keeping it from everyone. But I couldn’t be happier. I’m so excited now to begin this next chapter of my life.”

Richardson, 25, has in fact long wanted to race for the country of his birth. At the UCI Track Champions League finale in London in 2022, which took place at the Lee Valley Velodrome, less than 40 miles from where he grew up and attended gymnastics classes [an elbow injury eventually ended that career path], where his aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents still live, Richardson even went as far as to tell journalists he still had his British passport and that it had “crossed his mind” to switch nationality.

That was after Sir Chris Hoy, in commentary, had said that a few British coaches might be “kicking themselves” over one who got away. Publicly, Richardson concluded that interview by saying it was “Australia all the way” and that no one from British Cycling had approached him as “they probably know what the answer’s going to be already”. Privately, though, he admits he was conflicted.

“I guess in my mind it’s something I wanted to do for a long time, since I did my first international competition at junior worlds [in 2017],” he says. “I just kind of felt this sense of, you know, seeing the British team compete and going ‘Oh, that would be [amazing]… That feels like my country.’ It’s just been a thing for the last 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 with an Australian jersey in the media and say ‘I want to race for GB.’ I wanted to be respectful towards Australia because they did such a lot for me. I have so much respect for them. But it was always there.”

‘It was something I had wanted to do for a long time’

Richardson says he finally decided to look seriously at it “around December last year”. Having made his Olympics debut in Tokyo, where Australia finished fourth in the men’s team sprint, the short turnaround for Paris informed his decision not to do it sooner.

“I felt we had unfinished business from Tokyo so I wanted to stick around and really gave it everything I possibly could,” he says. “But I knew going into this year that it was kind of decision time. It was now or never. And I decided now. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time. And 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, I’d only regret not trying to make it happen.”

Richardson set the wheels in motion. He had got to know Jon Norfolk, GB Cycling Team head coach, when the former GB national champion was in Australia running their performance pathway.

When the cycling world descended on Adelaide for the opening round of the 2024 Track Nations Cup in February, Richardson took the opportunity to sidle up to him. “Jon then talked to Sparky [Park], and I met up with both of them at the Hong Kong round [in March],” he recalls.

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

Cycling power couple in same vein as the Kennys

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

“Obviously, Emma and my relationship is very new, and you know, we’ve gone from doing long distance all year to now living in the same place,” he says. “We don’t need the added stress of moving in together full-time. We want to just take it slow and enjoy life, and not add any extra stress that doesn’t need to be there. We’re going to be living driving distance away from each other, rather than 16,000 kilometres. So that in itself is going to be very nice!”

‘I expect a bit of a backlash’

Richardson is clearly excited but he is under no illusions there will be some who take a dim view of his decision. He is hardly the first and will not be the last sportsman to switch nationalities.

As opposed to sports such as football, where you are committed to a country once you make a certain number of senior appearances for them, or rugby, where a change of allegiance can only come after years-long stand-down periods, cycling allows changes in nationality even after you have represented a nation on the world stage.

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

“I expect a bit of a backlash,” he says. “Like I said, I owe Cycling Australia so much. They gave 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 blown away.

Even in Tokyo, when Jason [Kenny] won that incredible keirin, when he just went off the front, and won his seventh Olympic gold medal and made history, I was just in awe. I went straight down to the pits. He was doing media, and I got him to sign my race number, and I was like ‘That was amazing!’ And now he’s coaching me. Honestly, it’s like a pinch-me moment.”

Richardson admits that Kenny, the men’s sprint coach, was one of the few who did know about his plans in advance of Paris. They had a phone conversation in which Kenny asked about his goals and his ambitions and they are planning another sit-down soon. But he could not tell anyone in Cycling Australia.

“I had to keep it that way, in case of possible deselection or anything like that,” he says. “Like, I’m sure they wouldn’t have. Cycling Australia have been great. But, you know, it was tricky. We’d sit down and have meetings about, you know, about post-Olympics, and what the next steps were going to be, and all that sort of stuff. And I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, this is going to be hard, really hard’.”

Richardson sold his car and various other big-ticket items before heading over to Europe with “as much as I could carry”. He admits his team-mates were a bit confused. “A lot of them were like, ‘What is he doing? That’s not like him, like why is he just randomly downsizing before the Olympics?’ I managed to come up with a bit of a fib. But, yeah, obviously I hope they understand now.

“As I say, I expect some people to be unhappy or disappointed or sad, or, you know, frustrated or whatever the emotion is. It’s understandable. But I’ll try and keep everything as positive as possible. Otherwise it will kind of eat away at me a little bit. Where my mind is, is that, as long as you know Great Britain, the country that I’m now going to, is welcoming in some regard, then that’s the main thing that matters to me.”

‘Emma is incredible... she is going to be a star’

For now, Richardson says his plan is just to enjoy a bit of a break. He and Finucane, the new power couple in GB cycling after Dame Laura and Sir Jason, are heading to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza in a couple of weeks. “We love F1 and we’ve never seen it live, either of us,” he says. “So it’s going be so great to be able to share that together.” He is clearly besotted.

“Emma is incredible,” he enthuses of the Welsh rider. “I could kind of tell what was coming down the tracks when she raced at the Commies [Commonwealth Games] as an 18-year-old and won bronze. I was like ‘Oh s---, here we go. She is going to be a star’. To not only win three medals in Paris but to handle the pressure of having someone like Laura Kenny say she can win three golds. At 21, that was very impressive. It’s inspiring to me. And it’s awesome to have her by my side and to be by her side and watch her achieve her goals. She is only going to get better.”

As part of the UCI’s criteria for switching nationality, Richardson will not be allowed to compete for GB at the upcoming Track World Championships in Denmark. Or at next year’s European Championships in Belgium in February. But he can race in the Track Champions League later this year. And he says he cannot wait to pull on a GB vest as and when he is allowed to.

The 25-year-old, who has not lost all of his gymnastics skills if the post-race backflip he performed in Paris is anything to go by, already knows Jack Carlin pretty well from training with him in Glasgow when he was at those Commonwealth Games in 2022.

“Jack and I work well together,” he says. “Obviously, it’s only been a few training sessions here and there. But you know, if you can get along when you’re racing for different countries, you hope that when you end up putting on the same skinsuit, it’s even better. I know Hamish [Turnbull] and Joe [Truman] a bit as well. They seem like a nice group of lads, and a fun group as well, and one that I’m excited to be a part of.”

‘I think GB are going to come out on top’

Richardson is adamant the future is bright for GB track sprinting. Asked about Park’s prediction for Los Angeles, he says he reckons the big fight will actually be with the country he is leaving. “I know Australia’s got some really strong talent coming through,” he says.

“The system over there is just phenomenal. If I’m going to call it now, I’d say the gold final in LA is between GB and Australia. I’m looking at the Dutch team thinking Roy [van den Berg]’s 34 or 35 or something like that. Jeffrey [Hoogland] is 31, I’ve had conversations with him about possible retirement. If we can stay fit and healthy and Australia do the same, I think that’s where the fight’s going to be. But I think GB are going to come out on top.”

What a story that would be. Richardson leading the country of his birth to victory over the country who trained him up. Any brickbats he gets now he can expect tenfold in LA. “It could be tricky,” he concedes. “But as I say, I have nothing but respect for Australia. And I do expect them to really step up in the next couple of years. I’m sure there’ll be a bit of ‘See what you’re missing out on.’

“What people need to realise, though, is that I’m not leaving Australia to have more success, to win more medals. That’s not my motivating factor here. I’m just chasing my dream. If I lose absolutely every race in the next four years, I’m still chasing my dream.”