Team GB star facing TWO-YEAR BAN due to shock loophole after defecting from Australia following Olympics 2024 success

OLYMPIC medallist Matthew Richardson could face a two-year ban from international cycling after switching allegiances from Australia to Great Britain.

The 25-year-old won three medals – two silvers and a bronze – for Australia in Paris, but confirmed his decision to defect just one week after the closing ceremony.

Jesse Korf, the CEO of AusCycling, admitted he was disappointed with Richardson’s decision in the wake of his Olympic success.

He said: “There’s disappointment around the decision and the process and not knowing around Matt’s circumstances.”

Korf went on claim it was too early to tell if AusCycling wanted to enforce a two-year non-competition clause.

He continued: “For sure he will not compete at the upcoming world championships (set to take place in October).

“But the non-competition duration and clauses, that is being interrogated and looked into at the moment together with the UCI and ASC (Australian Sports Commission).

“That is something that we would have to discuss internally because we obviously have a big say in that and we need to review that.

“On that same token the AIS-slash-ASC is a big stakeholder in that they provide a lot of the funding.

“So that would have to be a conversation to get to a joint decision before we can share that and start a conversation with UCI and Matt and British Cycling.”

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Richardson was born in Maidstone, Kent, and moved to Australia at the age of nine.

According to Korf, he cited a long-held ambition to race for his birth country as the reason behind his switch.

British Cycling executives insisted they did not approach Richardson to entice him.

Instead, he secretly reached out to them. “There would have had to be discussions (with British Cycling) prior to Matt lodging his procedure with the UCI which got finalised at least three months ago,” Korf added.

“It’s highly likely that there would have been conversations between February and April. However the nature of that, I am not aware of.”

Speaking to British media, Richardson admitted he kept the secret from Australia because he did not want his Olympic hopes to be affected.

Asked if there would have been any potential ramifications, Korf revealed: “That’s a really hard question to answer … I don’t know.

“In that same breath Matt was on an exceptional trajectory and performed exceptionally at the Games.

“So, yeah, all things would have been considered. I don’t know if there would have been ramifications.

“It may or may not have and they could have been both from our side or the AOC’s (Australian Olympic Committee) side.”

At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Richardson won silver in the men’s sprint and men’s keirin.

He also won a bronze in the team sprint.

Australia finished fourth in the medal table, behind the United States, China and Japan.