Matthew Richardson (born 17 April 1999) is an Australian

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

. He competed in the men's keirin, individual sprint and team sprint at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. His most successful event was the team sprint, where the Australians came fourth.

Early years

Richardson was born in the United Kingdom and moved to Australia for his father's work when he was nine years old. He grew up in

Warwick, Western Australia Warwick is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, within the City of Joondalup. Its postcode is 6024. The eastern third of the suburb is a native bushland area known as the Warwick Open Space. History Warwick was developed in the late 1960s. T ...

. He loves

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

and was particularly good on the balance beam. As a teenager Richardson earned podium results at a national level. After suffering an elbow injury, he turned his interest to cycling.

Achievements

Richardson cycled for the Midland Cycling Club. He was invited to attend a 'come 'n' try' session and was recruited to the Western Australian Institute of Sport. Three months before the 2019 World Championships, Richardson relocated to

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

to join Cycling Australia's Podium Potential Academy. This move paid dividends as Richardson was selected to represent Australia in the team sprint. The team finished in sixth position and were edged out of the finals by eventual silver medallists, France. At the

2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2020 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were held in Berlin, Germany from 26 February to 1 March 2020. Schedule 20 events were held: ''All times are local (UTC+1).'' Medal summary Medal table Men Women *Shaded events are no ...

, Richardson won a bronze medal in the team sprint with Thomas Cornish and

Nathan Hart Nathan Hart (born 4 March 1993) is an Australian track cyclist. He qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and rode in the Men's Individual Sprint. Unfortunately, Hart, together with his compatriot Matthew Richardson, exited the tournament in th ...

. It was Australia's highest finish in this event at a World Championships in eight years. Richardson competed at the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

, where he won gold medals in the

team sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The current men's ...

event alongside

Leigh Hoffman Leigh Hoffman (born 11 June 2000) is an Australian track cyclist. Early life Hoffman was brought up in Whyalla in South Australia but moved as teenager to Adelaide to be nearer his training base at the SA Sports Institute, enrolling at the Imm ...

and Matthew Glaetzer and in the individual sprint event.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Matthew Living people Australian male cyclists Australian track cyclists Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for Australia 1999 births 21st-century Australian people Cyclists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in cycling UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) Cyclists from Perth, Western Australia British emigrants to Australia Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Maidstone