Chris Hoy

Sir Chris Hoy

Hoy at the Homecoming Parade in Glasgow, to celebrate the achievements of Scottish competitors at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Personal information
Full name Christopher Andrew Hoy
Born (1976-03-23) 23 March 1976
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Weight 92 kg (203 lb; 14.5 st)[1]
Team information
Discipline Track
Role Cycling
Amateur team(s)
1984–1986 Scotia BMX
1986–1991 GT Factory BMX Team
1992–1993 Dunedin CC
1994–2001 City of Edinburgh RC
2001–2003 Team Athena
2004 Team Persil
2005–2007 Team Wolfson Microelectronics / Miller
Professional team(s)
2008 Team Sky+ HD

Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy, MBE (born 23 March 1976), known as Chris Hoy, is a British racing driver and former track cyclist who represented Great Britain at the Olympics and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games.

Hoy is eleven-times a world champion and six-times an Olympic champion. With a total of seven Olympic medals, six gold and one silver, Hoy is the second most decorated Olympic cyclist of all time. With his three gold medals in 2008 Summer Olympics, Hoy became Scotland's most successful Olympian, the first British athlete to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games since Henry Taylor in 1908, and the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time. After winning a further two gold medals (in the keirin and team sprint) at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Hoy has won more Olympic gold medals (six) than any other British athlete along with Jason Kenny, and more total medals (seven) than any except fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Early life

Hoy grew up in the suburb of Murrayfield, west of Edinburgh, and was educated at George Watson's College, a prestigious private school, followed by two years at the University of St Andrews studying Mathematics and Physics until 1996.[2] He subsequently transferred to the University of Edinburgh, from which he graduated B.Sc. (Hons.) in Applied Sports Science in 1999.[3]

Hoy was inspired to cycle at age six by the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.[4] 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 U.S. He first became aware of track cycling when he watched TV coverage of Scottish sprinter Eddie Alexander winning a bronze medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.[5] Hoy also rowed for the Scotland Junior Rowing 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.[6]

Cycling career

Early career

Hoy joined his first cycling club, Dunedin C.C., in 1990 aged 14, and began concentrating on track cycling in 1993, when he joined the City of Edinburgh Racing Club.[6]

Hoy won silver in Berlin, at the 1999 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in the team sprint, riding at man one, Craig MacLean at 2 and Jason Quealley at 3. 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.

2000 Sydney Olympics

Following Jason Queally's Gold Medal in the Kilo TT, Chris joined with him and Craig MacLean to win his first Olympic Medal, a Silver in the Team Sprint or "Olympic Sprint" as it was then called. They were beaten by an excellent French team but the two medals won for GB was the start of the renaissance of British Cycling which has led on to remarkable results over his career.

2004 Olympics: Athens

Chris arrived in Athens in the form of his life. His main event was the Kilo Time Trial and the race produced what is probably the best ever Kilo competition. He was ranked No 1 and was last man off. The sea level World Record was broken four times as he sat in the track centre waiting for his start. He had been involved in an accident in the athlete's village just a few days prior to competition where he came off his bike in front of a village bus, narrowly avoiding serious injury. As he came out of the starting gate, his scarred arms and legs showed how close he was to not competing. The previous rider was the great Arnaud Tournant who set the fastest ever sea-level kilo. Chris came next and, cheered on by thousands of loyal British fans, he bettered the time on each lap, setting a new sea-level World and Olympic Record of 1.00.711. This was the first of his Olympic Gold medals and added to the Silver, won in the Team Sprint in Sydney in 2000.

Post-2004 Olympics

Following the decision to remove the Kilo from the Olympic programme after the 2004 games, Hoy sought to develop in other events.[7] 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 the riders race 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, where he also won, ahead of his team mate Ross Edgar.

This showed that Hoy 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 such as the keirin[8] and the individual sprint.

2007 world record attempt

On 12 May 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, over 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. At the time, only 3 sub-60sec kilos had ever been ridden; Hoy recorded two of these over two days in La Paz.[9]

Hoy's main achievement is his development in the individual sprint event considered to be the blue riband event of track cycling.[10] 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.[11]

2008 Olympics

Hoy at the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester

Hoy became the first British Olympian for 100 years to claim three golds at one games at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. This came when he won the men's keirin, the men's team sprint and also the men's individual sprint.[12]

2008/09 season

Hoy did not race at the first major event of the 2009/10 season, the World Cup Classics Event in Manchester on 4 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 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.[13] 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.[14] 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 defend 2 World titles, because of the hip injury.[15]

2009/10 season

Hoy celebrates winning the kerin at the 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Ballerup, Denmark

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 Men's 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 Förstemann, 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.[16]

2010/11 season

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.[17] Hoy took the match sprint title at the British National Championships in October 2011.[18]

2011/12 track season

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.[19]

2012 Olympics

Hoy leading Team GB out as the team's flag carrier at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony

Hoy was an ambassador for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Hoy led Team GB out as the team's flag carrier at the opening ceremony.[20] He then went on to win gold in the team sprint with Jason Kenny and Philip Hindes, setting a new world record in the velodrome[21] and becoming Team GB's joint gold record holder with Sir Steve Redgrave's tally of five gold medals with a total of six medals (5 gold, 1 silver).[22]

On 7 August 2012 Hoy won gold in the Keirin to overtake Sir Steve Redgrave and become the most successful British olympian ever, winning a total of 6 gold medals. This also made him the joint holder of most medals won by any British athlete in the Olympic Games with fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins.[23]

Retirement

On 18 April 2013 Hoy announced his retirement from competitive cycling. He said he was very proud to have taken part in the transformation of the sport.[24]

Motorsport career

Hoy's interest in motorsport competition led him to contest the inaugural season of the Radical Sportscars SR1 Cup, scooping his first motorsport podium at Snetterton in the same season. Hoy has since contested selected rounds of the Radical SR3 Challenge and Radical European Masters in Radical's SR3 RS and SR8 RX open sportscars. On 8 April 2014 it was announced[25] that Hoy would be joining the British GT championship driving a Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 with a view to competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016.

Hoy took his first victory in international competition at the opening round of the 2015 European Le Mans Series at Silverstone where he drove a Ginetta-Nissan to a class win alongside team-mate Charlie Robertson.[26] The pairing took another two wins in the series' LMP3 class, including at the penultimate round at Circuit Paul Ricard, which clinched them the class title with a round to spare.[27] He subsequently competed at the 2015 Race of Champions at the London Olympic Stadium, receiving a late invitation to race as part of Team All Stars in the Nations Cup alongside Romain Grosjean as a replacement for Jorge Lorenzo after the motorcyclist suffered leg burns as a result of post-race celebrations on his motorbike when he clinched that season's MotoGP title.[28] However Hoy and Grosjean were knocked out in the first round by the Young Stars team of Pascal Wehrlein and Jolyon Palmer.[29]

In March 2016 it was confirmed that Hoy would be entered for the 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours, sharing a Ligier JS P2-Nissan with Andrea Pizzitola and Michael Munemann. He was the first Summer Olympic medallist to compete at Le Mans,[30] the ninth former Olympian to race there and the second Olympic champion to do so, after alpine skier Henri Oreiller.[31] Hoy and his team-mates finished the race in 17th overall and 12th[32] in class.[33]

Complete British GT Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Points
2014 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 GT3 OUL
1
9		 OUL
2
13		 ROC
1
13		 SIL
1
7		 SNE
1
13		 SNE
2
16		 SPA
1
16		 SPA
2
2		 BRH
1
11		 DON
1
11		 20th 29

Complete European Le Mans Series results

Year Entrant Class Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rank Points
2015 Team LNT LMP3 Ginetta LMP3 Nissan VK50 5L V8 SIL
1		 IMO
Ret		 RBR
1		 LEC
1		 EST
3		 1st 94
2016 Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 Ligier JS P2 Nissan VK45DE 4.5 L V8 SIL
10		 IMO
Ret		 RBR LEC SPA EST 34th 1

24 Hours of Le Mans results

Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps Pos. Class
Pos.
2016 Portugal Algarve Pro Racing United Kingdom Michael Munemann
France Andrea Pizzitola		 Ligier JS P2-Nissan LMP2 341 17th 12th

Hoy Bikes

Hoy unveiled the brand which bears his name in November 2012, three months after winning the double Olympic gold in London. The debut range included three road bikes and four city bikes, as well as a track bike.[34] It was later extended by several other designs, including bicycles for children.[35]

Personal life

Hoy is married to Sarra Kemp, a lawyer from Edinburgh. They got married in 2010 at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. Their son was born in October 2014.[36][37]

Hoy's autobiography was published in 2009.[38] Hoy's first two children's fiction books, about a young cyclist called Flying Fergus, were published in 2016.[39][40]

In April 2013 Hoy accepted the appointment of ambassador to the Royal Air Force Air Cadets and assumed the rank of Honorary Group Captain RAFVR(T).[41] In 2013, Hoy was appointed as an ambassador for UNICEF UK, having been an International Inspiration ambassador for UNICEF since 2009.[42]

Medal history

World Championships
  • 1999 – Team sprint
  • 2000 – Team sprint
  • 2001 – Team sprint
  • 2002 – 1 km time trial; Team sprint
  • 2003 – Team sprint
  • 2004 – 1 km time trial; Team sprint
  • 2005 – Team sprint; 1 km time trial
  • 2006 – 1 km time trial; Team sprint
  • 2007 – Keirin; 1 km time trial; Team sprint
  • 2008 – Sprint; Keirin; Team sprint
  • 2010 – Keirin; Team sprint
  • 2011 – Keirin; Team sprint;[43] Sprint[43]
  • 2012 – Keirin; Sprint
Olympic Games
Track Cycling World Ranking
  • 2009–10 – 3rd Keirin
  • 2010–11 – 2nd Keirin, 3rd Team sprint
  • 2011–12 – 1st Keirin
Commonwealth Games
Special awards

Honours

Bibliography

Autobiography

Children's fiction

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Chris Hoy Champion Cyclist". Chris Hoy official website.
  2. ↑ "Olympic Honorary - Sir Chris Hoy's student days at St Andrews". University of St Andrews. 8 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Alumnus of the year 2012 Chris Hoy". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  4. ↑ Deborah Charles (19 August 2008). "E.T. fan Hoy is out of this world". Reuters. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  5. ↑ Philip, Robert (13 February 2008). "Cycling champion Chris Hoy inspired by E.T.". telegraph.co.uk. London. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  6. 1 2 "Biography". chrishoy.com.
  7. ↑ "Inspiration – Heroes: Chris Hoy, cyclist". BBC Wales. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  8. ↑ "Confident Hoy Right On Track". Eurosport. 25 March 2008.
  9. ↑ Jill Douglas (13 May 2007). "Hoy sets new world best over 500m". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  10. ↑ William Fotheringham (20 August 2008). "Olympics: Impenetrable Hoy joins greats after sprinting to third gold". London, UK: The Guardian.
  11. ↑
  12. 1 2 "Velodrome honour for golden Hoy". BBC Sport. 19 August 2008. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
  13. ↑ "Hoy resolute after strong return". BBC Sport. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  14. ↑ "Crash ends keirin hopes for Hoy". BBC Sport. 15 February 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  15. ↑ "Hoy to miss World Championships". BBC News. 3 March 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  16. ↑ Bevan, Chris (25 March 2010). "Hoy claims 10th world track title". BBC News.
  17. ↑ Fotheringham, William (18 February 2011). "Great Britain women strike gold as Chris Hoy loses out to Jason Kenny". The Guardian. London, UK.
  18. ↑ Sir Chris Hoy makes statement of intent in single match sprint victory, guardian.co.uk, 1 October 2011.
  19. ↑ BBC Sport - Track World Cup: Sir Chris Hoy storms to sprint gold in London, bbc.co.uk; accessed 29 September 2015.
  20. ↑ "Sir Chris Hoy's 'immense pride' at leading out Olympic Team GB". BBC Sport. BBC. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  21. ↑ "Joy as three golds push Team GB up medals table". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 2 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  22. ↑ Fotheringham, William (2 August 2012). "Chris Hoy claims fifth Olympic gold medal as Britain win team sprint". guardian.co.uk. London, UK: The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  23. ↑ "Olympics cycling: Sir Chris Hoy wins sixth gold with keirin win". Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  24. ↑ "BBC Sport - Sir Chris Hoy retires: Six-time Olympic champion quits cycling". Bbc.co.uk. 7 August 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  25. ↑ "Sir Chris Hoy to Compete In British GT Championship". Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  26. ↑ Hobbs, David (11 April 2015). "Sir Chris Hoy strikes gold claiming first win in international motorsport in opening round of European Le Mans Series". itv.com. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "Sir Chris Hoy wins European Le Mans title". bbc.co.uk. 7 September 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
  28. ↑ "Chris Hoy replaces MotoGP champion Lorenzo in London ROC line-up". autosport.com. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  29. ↑ Reiman, Samuel (20 November 2015). "Race of Champions: Priaulx gets first Nations Cup for England". foxsports.com. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  30. ↑ Allen, Lawrence (31 March 2016). "Sir Chris Hoy set to race in Le Mans 24hrs 2016". Auto Express. Dennis Publishing. 31 March 2016
  31. ↑ "Sir Chris Hoy to fulfil boyhood dream by competing in Le Mans 24 Hour". theguardian.com. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  32. ↑ "Le Mans Results" (PDF). lemans.org. 19 June 2016. Retrieved 11 Oct 2016.
  33. ↑ Jenkins, Tom (21 June 2016). "Chris Hoy drives Le Mans - a photo essay". theguardian.com. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  34. ↑ Road Cycling UK - Sir Chris Hoy announces HOY bike brand partnership with Evans Cycles, roadcyclinguk.com; accessed 29 September 2015.
  35. ↑ Sir Chris Hoy's new kids’ bikes: Exclusive interview, cyclingweekly.co.uk, 6 May 2014.
  36. ↑ "Olympic cyclist Sir Chris marries". BBC News Online. 17 April 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2010.
  37. ↑ "Son for Chris Hoy and his wife Sarra". BBC News Online. 15 October 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  38. ↑ Chris Hoy (2009). Chris Hoy: The Autobiography. HarperSport. ISBN 978-0-00-731131-6.
  39. ↑ Sir Chris Hoy (25 February 2016). Flying Fergus 1: The Best Birthday Bike. Bonnier Publishing Fiction. ISBN 978-1-84812-561-2.
  40. ↑ Sir Chris Hoy (25 February 2016). Flying Fergus 2: The Great Cycle Challenge. Bonnier Publishing Fiction. ISBN 978-1-84812-562-9.
  41. ↑ "Air Cadets Strike Gold with Sir Chris Hoy". RAF Website. Royal Air Force. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  42. ↑ Staff. "Sir Chris Hoy, UNICEF UK Ambassador". UNICEF UK. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  43. 1 2 Stokes, Shane (6 January 2012). "UCI confirms Jason Kenny, Germany are upgraded to 2011 world track champions". VeloNation. VeloNation LLC. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  44. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 57509. pp. 13–18. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
  45. ↑ "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh & Scottish Borders: Annual Review 2004". www1.hw.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
  46. ↑ "Sports Personality 2008: Hoy wins Sports Personality of the Year". BBC. 14 December 2008. Retrieved 16 December 2008.
  47. ↑ "Honorary Degrees June 2009". 17 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
  48. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58929. p. 1. 31 December 2008.
  49. ↑ "Hoy Inducted into University's Sports Hall of Fame". Retrieved 30 June 2009.
  50. ↑ " 140mph Javelin trains start on South Coast run" The Independent 14 December 2009
  51. ↑ Duffy, Owen (8 August 2012). "Glasgow may boast the Chris Hoy velodrome but it's 'hell' for cyclists". guardian.co.uk. London: The Guardian. Retrieved 9 August 2012.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Hoy.
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Mark Foster		 Flagbearer for  Great Britain
London 2012 		Succeeded by
Andy Murray
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Inaugural		 European Le Mans Series
LMP3 Champion
2015
With: Charlie Robertson		 Succeeded by
Alex Brundle
Mike Guasch
Christian England
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