Olympic cyclist Matt Richardson hits out at keyboard critics after shock switch to Great Britain

Richardson defected to Team GB after winning three medals for Australia in the velodrome at Paris 2024

Matt Richardson described criticism from fans as ‘meaningless words' (Getty Images)

Cyclist Matt Richardson has dismissed criticism of his switch of allegiance from Australia to Britain as “meaningless words” and says he has ample support to make up for the negativity.

England-born Richardson, who won three medals for Australia at the Paris 2024 velodrome, announced the switch on Monday saying he looked forward to “chasing a dream” with the powerful British cycling team.

The 25-year-old’s defection disappointed governing body AusCycling and triggered some criticism from former cyclists in Australia - but Richardson said he was not bothered by it.

“All the negative comments and hate that’s been getting thrown around are from people that probably don’t even know what sport I play,” Richardson said in an interview with Eurosport.

“I can sit here and probably challenge a lot of them to tell me what a keirin is ... without having to Google it.

“So, these are people that sit behind their keyboards and do nothing other than bash meaningless words into the computer.”

Richardson said there was also support for his decision in Australia and that his cycling club in Perth would welcome him back with open arms if he returned.

Matt Richardson won three medals in Paris (PA Wire)

“I’ve got a lot of people (supporting) and I feel a lot of love so they outweigh all the negativity,” he added.

AusCycling said this week it expected cycling’s global UCI governing body to enforce a non-competition period of two years for Richardson at international events.

However, the UCI and British Cycling have said Richardson only need miss the next Track Cycling World Championships in Denmark in October and the European Championships early next year.

Richardson said he understood he would only miss the two events when he signed over to Britain but would wait and see what other people were trying to “cook up”.

“Whatever else comes, it’s out of my control,” he said.

Reuters