A 20-hour-plus flight is a long time to worry about how you’ll be received when you land on the other side. So when Matthew Richardson flew from the UK to Australia before Christmas, he did so with a slight tinge of nervousness.
Escaping the British winter, the 25-year-old returned to the country he won three Olympic medals representing last summer. He wasn’t expecting a hero’s welcome, though. Quite the opposite, in fact, because in the time that had elapsed since the Games, he had undergone a high-profile nationality swap, changing his allegiances to Great Britain, his country of birth.
