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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Kieran Pender

Matthew Richardson’s grand cycling betrayal will leave an asterisk on his glittering career

Matthew Richardson wins the men's sprint final at the UCI Track Champions League in France
Matthew Richardson wins the men's sprint final at the UCI Track Champions League in France, wearing Great Britain’s colours for the first time. Photograph: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com/REX/Shutterstock

Conflicting national allegiances in sport are no simple thing. It is hardly unreasonable for someone with more than one national background to feel competing tugs when it comes to flying the flag on the international stage. Emotion and pragmatism collide to force hard decisions.

Australia is a deeply multicultural nation – more than one in four Australians were born overseas, while millions more have parents born elsewhere. We are a nation of complex sporting allegiances. I have dual nationalities; if it wasn’t for the fact that I have all the sporting talent of a gnat, I might have to consider which country to represent.

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