Biography
Chris Hoy became a cycling enthusiast as a young child with his first introduction into competitive cycling in 1984 with the Scotia BMX club in which he became Scottish champion. During his teenage years Chris tried his hand at both mountain biking and road racing with considerable success but eventually focused his efforts on track cycling joining the renowned City of Edinburgh Racing Club in 1994.
1999 saw Chris become a part of the British National squad with his first major successes in 2002 taking world titles in the 1km time trial and team sprint followed by 1km time trial success at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Over his career as a competitive cyclist Chris has managed to reach a very impressive total of 9 World Titles, without taking into account his success as an Olympian. It was back in 2000 when Hoy had his first shot at the Olympics taking a Silver medal in the team sprint later taking gold in the 1km time trial at Athens. Due to this great success Chris was awarded an MBE in the Queens New Years Honours list of 2005.
On to Beijing which bought Hoy another rush of victories with a Gold in the men’s team sprint, gold in the keirin and eventually taking Gold medal number three with an outstanding performance in the Sprint. This fantastic achievement elevated Chris Hoy as the first Briton to win three Olympic titles at on event since Henry Taylor 100 years ago.
Chris Hoy on his way to victory securing his third gold medal of the Beijing Olympics. All images courtesy of British Cycling.
Hoy's year was still far from over! 2008 also bought him Britons Sports Personality of the Year piping F1's Lewis Hamilton and fellow Beijing Olympic Gold medallist Rebecca Adlington to the title.
With his pride and success in hand the year was completed with Chris Hoy receiving a Knighthood in the New Years Honours List and his mother being awarded an MBE