Sir Chris Hoy

Hoy at the parade in London to celebrate the achievements of British competitors at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy
Nickname	The Real McHoy[1]
Born	(1976-03-23) 23 March 1976 (age 36) Edinburgh, Scotland
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Weight	92 kg (200 lb; 14.5 st)[2]
Team information
Current team	Sky Track Cycling
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	Sprinter
Amateur team(s)
1984–1986 1986–1991 1992–1993 1994–2001 2001–2003 2004 2005–2007	Scotia BMX GT Factory BMX Team Dunedin CC City of Edinburgh RC Team Athena Team Persil Team Wolfson Microelectronics / Miller
Professional team(s)
2008–	Team Sky+ HD
Medal record Competitor for  Great Britain Track cycling Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing Sprint Gold 2008 Beijing Team sprint Gold 2008 Beijing Keirin Gold 2004 Athens 1 km time trial Silver 2000 Sydney Team sprint World Championships Gold 2002 Ballerup 1 km time trial Gold 2002 Ballerup Team sprint Gold 2004 Melbourne 1 km time trial Gold 2005 Los Angeles Team sprint Gold 2006 Bordeaux 1 km time trial Gold 2007 Palma de Mallorca 1 km time trial Gold 2007 Palma de Mallorca Keirin Gold 2008 Manchester Sprint Gold 2008 Manchester Keirin Gold 2010 Ballerup Keirin Gold 2012 Melbourne Keirin Silver 1999 Berlin Team sprint Silver 2000 Manchester Team sprint Silver 2006 Bordeaux Team Sprint Silver 2007 Palma de Mallorca Team Sprint Silver 2008 Manchester Team sprint Silver 2011 Apeldoorn Keirin Silver 2011 Apeldoorn Team sprint Silver 2011 Apeldoorn Sprint Bronze 2001 Antwerp Team sprint Bronze 2003 Stuttgart Team sprint Bronze 2004 Melbourne Team sprint Bronze 2005 Los Angeles 1 km time trial Bronze 2010 Ballerup Team Sprint Bronze 2012 Melbourne Sprint European Championships Bronze 2010 Pruszków Team Sprint Competitor for  Scotland Commonwealth Games Gold 2002 Manchester 1 km time trial Gold 2006 Melbourne Team sprint Bronze 2002 Manchester Team sprint Bronze 2006 Melbourne 1 km time trial

Sir Christopher Andrew "Chris" Hoy, MBE (born 23 March 1976 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish track cyclist representing Great Britain and Scotland. He is a multiple world champion and Olympic Games gold medal winner. With his three gold medals in Beijing 2008, Hoy became Scotland's most successful Olympian,^[3] the first Briton to win three gold medals in a single Olympic games since Henry Taylor, in 1908, and the most successful Olympic male cyclist of all time.

Life[link]

Hoy went to school at Stockbridge Primary School, a state school in Edinburgh. He subsequently attended George Watson's College, a prestigious Edinburgh private school before continuing his studies at the University of St Andrews in 1996, before transferring to Moray House at the University of Edinburgh from where he graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sports Science in 1999. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in July 2005 and another from Heriot-Watt University in November 2005.^[4] Hoy returned to St Andrews University in June 2009 to be awarded an honorary Doctor of Science. Hoy was inspired to cycle at age six by the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.^[5] Before track cycling, Hoy raced BMX between the ages of 7 and 14 and was ranked second in Britain, fifth in Europe and ninth in the world. He received sponsorship from Slazenger and Kwik-Fit and was competing in Europe and the US. Hoy also rowed for the Scottish junior team, coming second in the 1993 British championship with Grant Florence in the coxless pairs. He played rugby as part of his school's team.^[4]

Hoy joined his first cycling club, Dunedin CC, in 1992 and began concentrating on track cycling in 1994, when he joined the City of Edinburgh Racing Club.^[4]

Achievements[link]

Hoy at the 2008 World Championships in Manchester

1999–2007 career[link]

The Kilo and the Team Sprint[link]

Hoy's main events were the 1 km Time Trial, known as the Kilo, and the Team Sprint. It was in the Team Sprint that he collected his first World Championship medal, a Silver in 1999. This event involved the three riders, a simultaneous standing start, completing three laps of the 250 m track, with one rider taking the front for each lap and then dropping out. Hoy usually rides as the third man in this event, completing the closing lap. Regular team mates in the Team Sprint over the years have included Craig Maclean, Ross Edgar, Jamie Staff, Jason Queally, Matthew Crampton and Jason Kenny. The team's first World Title came in 2002, in the Ballerup Velodrome, Copenhagen. Hoy also won the Kilo title the same year beating Arnaud Tournant by 1/1000 of a second. A medal has been achieved in the Team Sprint each year since at the World Championships, including a further Gold in 2005. The team's regular opponents in recent years have been the French team.

Hoy was also the world's best 1 km Time Trial rider for a number of years, before ceasing to ride the event when it was removed from the Olympic programme after the 2004 games. This is a raw power sprinting event, which involves the rider covering one kilometre (four laps) as fast as possible from a standing start. His first World Title came in this event in 2002, followed by further titles in 2004, 2006 and 2007. He won the event at the 2004 Olympics, his first Olympic title.

Post-2004 Olympics[link]

Following the decision to remove the Kilo from the Olympic programme after the 2004 games, Hoy sought to develop in other events.^[6] The first of these was the Keirin. This event involves between six and eight riders following a small motorbike (the Derny) around the 250m track for 5.5 laps, as the bike slowly builds up the speed. The bike pulls off with 2.5 laps to go and it is an all out fight for the line. Hoy had previously competed at the Keirin in various events but one of his first major successes was at the Manchester round of the World Cup Classics Series in 2007, shortly before the World Championships. His victory in this event carried forward into the World Championships and he came home first to take the title, ahead of team mate Ross Edgar.

This was a milestone for Hoy as it showed he was developing from just a pure power sprinter, in events like the Kilo and Team Sprint, into also being one of the best in the world at more tactical sprinting events like the Keirin^[7] and the Sprint.

2007 world record attempt[link]

On May 12th 2007, Hoy attempted the world record for the kilometre. He fell 0.005 seconds short, clocking 58.880. He set a record for the 500m flying start at 24.758 seconds, a second less than the 25.850 set by Arnaud Duble. Hoy set the sea-level kilometre record of 1 minute 0.711 seconds by winning the Olympics in Athens in 2004. The outright record of 58.875 seconds is held by Arnaud Tournant (France), set during 2001 at altitude in La Paz, Bolivia, where Hoy also attempted to break the record. Only 3 sub-60sec kilos have ever been ridden, Hoy recorded two of these over two days in La Paz.^[8]

Hoy's main achievement is his development in the individual sprint event considered to be the blue riband event of track cycling.^[9] Kilo riders like Hoy have historically not fared as well at this event, as they were less experienced in the tactical elements required for the sprint. Previously, Hoy had competed in the sprint at various World Cup events and Revolution meetings in Manchester, but it was not one of his main events and he did not compete in it at the World Championships or the Olympics. In the semi finals Hoy defeated Italian veteran Roberto Chiappa 2–0, to set up a meeting in the final against France's Kevin Sireau. Sireau was the World Cup Classics points winner for the season and had defeated Hoy 2–0 in their previous meeting only a few weeks earlier. However with the vocal Manchester crowd behind him Hoy was not to be denied victory and he completed the win 2–0, the first British man to win the sprint title in 52 years since Reg Harris.

2008 Olympics[link]

Hoy vs Bos in Manchester

Hoy started the year by winning the sprint and the Keirin and collecting team sprint silver in the World Championships held on home soil in Manchester.

Hoy became the first British Olympian for 100 years to claim three golds at one games at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. This came when he won the men's keirin, the men's team sprint and also the men's individual sprint.^[10]

The first gold came as a member of the three man team sprint squad which included Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff. Jason Kenny replaced Ross Edgar just before the games. They defeated the French by a clear margin, despite the French team's previous dominance of the event.

The keirin became Hoy 's second gold medal of the 2008 games, when he came home clear winner ahead of team mate Ross Edgar.

Hoy reached the final round of the individual sprint without a glitch, where his opponent turned out to be his young team mate, Jason Kenny. Kenny was a junior world champion who had achieved a number of high placings. Hoy used his greater experience to defeat Kenny, completing his hat trick of Olympic titles.

2008/09 track season[link]

Hoy did not race at the first major event of the 2008/09 season, the World Cup Classics Event in Manchester on 31 October – 2 November. He instead made an appearance to sign autographs and commentate with the BBC. He made his return to racing in the UK at the sold out Revolution 22 event in Manchester in December. He received a standing ovation from the Manchester faithful at the start of the event when he was introduced to the crowd.^[11] At this event Hoy won both the Sprint and Keirin competitions, defeating likes of Jason Kenny, Jamie Staff, Ross Edgar, Matthew Crampton and Teun Mulder along the way. Hoy competed in the World Cup Classics series' final event in Copenhagen, Denmark in February, helping his team to a gold medal in the team sprint event. However, he crashed out during the men's Keirin final and was forced to miss the final day of competition, including the men's sprint. Although at first, his injury seemed minor, he returned to Manchester where, following a scan, he was diagnosed with a serious de-gloving injury which finished his season and kept him off his bike for almost 3 months.^[12] He was unable to compete as planned at the Revolution 24 event in Manchester the following weekend, he did however make an appearance at the event. He has had to pull out of the World Championships in Poland at the end of March, where he would have attempted to win 2 World titles, because of the hip injury.^[13]

2009/10 track season[link]

Hoy started the 09/10 track season at the National Cycling Centre, Manchester at the British National Championships where he took only his second (and third) ever individual national titles. He took gold medals in the Keirin, Sprint and was part of the Team Sprint Team representing team SKY along with Jamie Staff and Jason Kenny. Two weeks later, he raced in round one of the UCI World Cup at the same venue and took gold in the Mens Keirin. He then went into day 2 of the competition and took gold in the sprint event, beating fellow Brit Matthew Crampton in the final 2–0. A third World Cup gold came in the Team Sprint on the Sunday. Having ridden and won 12 events over the weekend, he withdrew from the International Japanese Keirin which was consequently won by team mate Matt Crampton. At the 2010 UCI World Championships, Hoy was beaten in the quarter final of the men's sprint event by his German opponent, Robert Forstermann, who won after making an attack from the start line. He was part of the GB men's team sprint that took the bronze. In the Keirin event, Hoy won the gold medal, despite crashing in the heats, to take his tenth world title^[14]

2010/11 track season[link]

Hoy lost in the first round of the men's sprint at the European Championships to Ireland's Felix English. At the Manchester World Cup event in February 2011, Hoy lost in the semi-finals to Jason Kenny ^[15]. Hoy took the match sprint title at the British National Championships in October 2011 ^[16]

2011/12 track season[link]

At the 2012 World Cup event held in the new London Velodrome, Hoy won three medals. He won gold in the keirin and bronze in the team sprint, before winning gold in the Men's Sprint, losing just one race in four rounds. ^[17]

Honours[link]

Hoy was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to cycling in the 2005 New Year Honours.^[18]

On 26 November 2008, Hoy was named as Sportsman of the Year by the Sports Journalists' Association of Great Britain, winning a ballot of its membership ahead of Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and Olympic sailor Ben Ainslie.

On 14 December 2008, Hoy was also named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He finished ahead of Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton and Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington. Hoy became the second cyclist ever to win the award after Tommy Simpson in 1965.^[19]

Hoy was created a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year Honours List 2009.^[20]

In June 2009, Hoy was inducted to the University of Edinburgh's Sports Hall of Fame.^[21]

Train operating company SouthEastern named a high-speed Class 395 train after him.

The Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, is named in his honour.

Honorary degrees[link]

• 2005 — Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Edinburgh
• 2009 — Honorary Doctor of Science, University of St Andrews^[22]

2012 Olympics[link]

Hoy is an ambassador for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the Scottish National Velodrome being built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow is to be named in his honour.^[10]

Personal life[link]

Hoy moved out of his childhood home in 2000 into a flat close to his parents. Hoy is married to Sarra Kemp, a lawyer from Edinburgh,^[23] they got engaged on 11 April 2009. They were married on 17 April 2010 at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. Hoy wore a grey kilt with a sporran, while his wife wore a white dress and veil. Swimmer Rebecca Adlington, double Olympic gold medallist was one of the guests.^[24] They now live in Salford, Greater Manchester, close to the National Cycling Centre's velodrome.^[25] He supports his hometown football team Heart of Midlothian.

Bibliography[link]

Hoy is the subject of a book by Richard Moore, Heroes, Villains and Velodromes: Chris Hoy and Britain's Track Cycling Revolution, published in June 2008 by Harper Collins. (ISBN 9780007265312)

Hoy's autobiography, Chris Hoy: the Autobiography, was published by Harper Collins in October 2009. (ISBN 9780007311316)

Medal history[link]

See also[link]

• Scotland at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
• Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• List of multiple Olympic gold medalists

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chris Hoy

• Official website
• Chris Hoy Rider Profile – Cycling Weekly
• "Chris Hoy – Olympic Record". British Olympic Association. http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleterecord.aspx?at=1708. 
• Template:Http://www.gwc.org.uk/cms/our-school/our-former-pupils/
• Larry Hickmott (22 March 2007). "Pre-World Championship Interview: Chris Hoy". British Cycling. http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/News2007/20070322_Chris_Hoy.asp. 
• Larry Hickmott (7 February 2007). "Chris Hoy Fighting to Hang onto Olympic Gold". British Cycling. http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/News2008/20080207_Chris_Hoy.asp. 
• Donald McRae (25 March 2008). "'I just rode round in disbelief for a few seconds'". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/mar/25/cycling.comment.