Cycling superstar Matthew Richardson\u2019s Commonwealth Games hopes were horrifically ended by a \u201cdisgraceful\u201d act on the eve of the competition.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old switched allegiances from Australia to Great Britain after winning three medals in the green and gold at the Paris Olympics, and two golds for Australia at the last Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
Watch the crash via the video player above<\/p>\n
Aussies were excited by the prospect of him facing his former teammates as an English athlete in Glasgow, but he was forced to pull out just days before due to injury.<\/p>\n
Now footage of the shocking crash which caused his withdrawal has emerged.<\/p>\n
It occurred during a Keirin event in Japan when home rider Kento Suzuki moved alongside Richardson before turning straight into him, sending the ex-Aussie rider tumbling to the floor in a sickening moment.<\/p>\n
The huge crash destroyed Richardson\u2019s plans to compete in the sprint, team sprint, and Keirin at the Games.<\/p>\n
And Channel 7 broadcaster Matt White was fuming with the Japanese athlete, saying: \u201cOut of the Commonwealth Games in horrible fashion.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is absolutely taken out. In motor racing terms that\u2019s T-boned, he has been taken out by a fellow competitor, which no one wants to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s appalling. No matter what storyline you want to follow into this one (Richardson v Australia at the Commonwealth Games) … and that\u2019s an inch away from serious physical injury.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While fellow expert Johanna Griggs added: \u201cThat in itself is disgraceful. That\u2019s ugly and horrible and unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suzuki later apologised and took full responsibility, saying: \u201cThere\u2019s no excuses, it\u2019s simply down to my own lack of skill!\u201d he wrote in Japanese.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom this point onwards, I\u2019ve changed my mindset. If it doesn\u2019t work vertically, I\u2019ll try horizontally \u2014 I just couldn\u2019t help but move. I\u2019m sorry!\u201d<\/p>\n
Richardson, replaced for the Games by Harry Radford, was ruled out following a Team England statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, due to an injury sustained in international racing earlier this week, Matt Richardson will no longer be able to compete for Team England at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back on the track soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the eve of the Games, Richardson had a dig at Australian cycling, saying he doesn\u2019t regret his switch to represent England and explained the benefits of Great Britain\u2019s cycling program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a no-expense-spared mentality to the way we go racing. In Australia, doing World Cups, I\u2019d be flying with only my race bike. No bike to warm up on, and it made racing quite challenging,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I fly with four or five bikes: a sprint and keirin bike, a team sprint bike, a spare bike, my warm-up bike and an activation bike. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just incredible, the amount of support around you. It all adds up, and it all makes a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cycling superstar Matthew Richardson\u2019s Commonwealth Games hopes were horrifically ended by a \u201cdisgraceful\u201d act on the eve of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[406081,406078,406058,391231,378988,406063,383522,406105,406088,406095,378662,406068,406091,406075,406103,406055,406104,406083,2666,149419,406054,378727,406087,406096,406065,406090,63,406056,406071,406084,382574,379476,1208,406092,406066,406067,1852,8328,80066,406097,43,406062,406074,397463,406110,406061,406077,406089,941,54395,383906,141693,280448,41565,85182,406080,406059,406076,44,406070,377508,377271,406082,822,49852,406101,406093,35860,22410,810,406072,140394,3604,406073,379067,384339,389124,380422,379331,392106,406094,380235,378583,406085,406098,406106,406057,406060,406109,406102,384823,406108,406099,406064,406107,34537,387947,406086,214758,380192,406069,406079,41,39,42,40,381883,406100,75969],"class_list":["post-834138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-s-commonwealth-games","tag-s-commonwealth-games-hopes","tag-s-cycling-program","tag-s-plans","tag-a-difference","tag-a-dig","tag-a-disgraceful-act","tag-a-fellow-competitor","tag-a-keirin-event","tag-a-life-ban","tag-a-move","tag-a-no-expense-spared-mentality","tag-a-sickening-moment-the-huge-crash","tag-a-spare-bike","tag-a-speedy-recovery","tag-a-sprint-and-keirin-bike","tag-a-team-england-statement","tag-a-team-sprint-bike","tag-act","tag-allegiances","tag-an-activation-bike","tag-an-apology","tag-an-english-athlete","tag-an-inch","tag-an-injury","tag-aussie-defector-matthew-richardson","tag-australia","tag-australia-while","tag-australian-cycling","tag-cycling-superstar-matthew-richardson","tag-disgraceful","tag-earlier-this-week","tag-england","tag-fellow-expert-johanna-griggs","tag-four-or-five-bikes","tag-full-responsibility","tag-games","tag-glasgow","tag-great-britain","tag-harry-radford","tag-headlines","tag-his-former-teammates","tag-his-switch","tag-his-withdrawal","tag-home-rider-kento-suzuki","tag-horrible-fashion","tag-injury-now-footage","tag-international-racing","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-just-days","tag-keirin","tag-matt-richardson","tag-matthew-richardson","tag-motor-racing","tag-my-mindset","tag-my-own-lack","tag-my-warm-up-bike","tag-news","tag-no-bike","tag-no-excuses","tag-no-one","tag-only-my-race-bike","tag-racing","tag-richardson","tag-richardson-v-australia","tag-serious-physical-injury","tag-skill","tag-support","tag-suzuki","tag-team-england","tag-team-sprint","tag-terms","tag-the-27-year-old","tag-the-amount","tag-the-benefits","tag-the-commonwealth-games","tag-the-competition","tag-the-crash","tag-the-eve","tag-the-ex-aussie-rider","tag-the-floor","tag-the-games","tag-the-games-and-channel-7-broadcaster-matt-white","tag-the-glasgow-2026-commonwealth-games","tag-the-green-and-gold","tag-the-individual","tag-the-japanese-athlete","tag-the-last-commonwealth-games-watch","tag-the-paris-olympics","tag-the-prospect","tag-the-regret","tag-the-shocking-crash","tag-the-sickening-moment","tag-the-sprint","tag-the-star","tag-the-track","tag-the-video-player-aboveaussies","tag-the-way","tag-this-one","tag-this-point-onwards","tag-three-medals","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-tv-hosts","tag-two-golds","tag-world-cups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}