Olympic heroes, No 24: Chris Hoy

Published on 20/07/2012 01:00

YESTERDAY’S news that Sir Chris Hoy has not been selected for the men’s sprint at London 2012 means that the Edinburgh cyclist will not be able to repeat his incredible feat from Beijing when he became the first Briton for 100 years to win three gold medals at a single Olympics.

However, Hoy remains the most decorated Olympian cyclist of all time, and still has the team sprint and the keirin to aim at in London.

Hoy was educated at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh and, after being inspired to cycle by the movie ET, he joined the City of Edinburgh club in 1994. The Scot won the first of his five Olympic medals at Sydney in 2000 when he won silver in the team sprint. At Athens four years later he struck gold in the 1km time trial. When that event was scrapped from the programme he focused on the individual sprint and keirin. He won gold in both as well as the team sprint in Beijing. He was knighted and voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year for his incredible achievement.