Hoy applies the brakes on hopes of Glasgow swansong

Published on Friday 8 May 2009 22:11

TRIPLE Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy has cast doubt on whether he will compete in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. The 33-year-old cyclist told The Scotsman that although it would be "the perfect ending" to his career, he was concerned that he may be too old to compete in the top flight of such a physically demanding sport.

"You plan ahead, you have an ideal scenario, but then you have to see what happens along the way," he said.

"To finish my career with a Commonwealth Games in Glasgow would be the perfect ending, but it's whether, after London 2012, I'll be 36 then, I can go on for two more years.

"All sorts of things can change in a very short space of time. So you have your goals and aims, but you have to wait and see what happens."

Hoy was the first Briton to win three gold medals at a single Olympics since 1908 and Scotland's most successful Olympian. Despite having competed for a decade at international level, he has been relatively injury free, although he was forced to miss the World Championships last year after suffering an injury in a fall during a race. Dr Angus Hunter, an expert in athlete physiology at Stirling University, said it was feasible for Hoy to cycle competitively well into his 30s.

He said: "Cyclists generally can go a lot longer than runners, mainly because their body weight is supported so they don't have the same extreme wear and tear on their joints and you don't have the same amount of impact on them as running."

He added that Hoy's specialities, which include the sprint, focused on power and strength, but said proper training meant that performance was no longer limited by age.