How Sir Chris Hoy created an Olympic legacy with wife Sarra by his side after he was inspired to cycle by watching ET
SIR CHRIS HOY has created an Olympic legacy that would be the envy of any athlete in a glittering career.
Sir Chris revealed on Saturday that he has been given just four years to live in a terminal cancer diagnosis.
The 48-year-old has become one of Britain’s most-loved Olympians and did it all with wife Sarra by his side.
And unbelievably, the six-time Olympic gold medallist did it all off the back of being inspired by Steven Spielberg movie E.T.
Sir Chris was just six years old when that 1982 movie changed the trajectory of his life forever.
“I was six when I saw ET,” he told The Guardian in 2020. “It changed my life. I wasn’t interested in cycling at all before. The bikes I’d seen in Edinburgh just seemed functional things for getting from A to B.
“Then I saw those BMX bikes on screen and I was hooked. It wasn’t the scene where they cycle across the sky, but when they get chased by the police and they’re doing jumps and skidding round corners.
“It was the most exciting thing I’d ever seen. I wanted to do that.”
His dad picked him up a £5 bike from a jumble sale as a result of his new found passion – four years later Sir Chris was competing in the semi-final of a BMX World Championship race.
The star finally turned his attention away from BMXing and onto the tracks in 1992, focusing solely on cycling after spending time much of upbringing rowing and playing rugby.
British national squad
Sir Chris’ decision to focus on cycling paid off as after just four years of track cycling with the Dunedin club and The City of Edinburgh Racing Squad, the Scot had secured a spot in the British national squad.
In his third year with the team he enjoyed his first taste of success.
Alongside team-mates Craig MacLean and Jason Queally, Sir Chris won silver in the 1999 UCI Track Cycling World Championships.
The medals started rolling in from there as he found success in the Commonwealth Games and World Championships in 2002.
Throughout his incredible career Sir Chris has won 11 World Championship gold medals and two Commonwealth golds.
He also picked up a combined 16 silver and bronze medals across the two events.
Wife Sarra
Sir Chris has long attributed his success to his wife Sarra, who has been with for some 14 years.
Speaking at London 2012, he said: “Sarra has been the one that has really got me through it all.”
Heartbreakingly, Sarra has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of MS herself.
Olympic success
Sir Chris made his first Olympic appearance in 2000 at the Sydney Games.
He won his first medal Down Under, taking home silver in the team sprint.
But it was the 2004 Games in Athens where Hoy really made his mark on the Olympics.
A gold medal in the 1km time trial earned him his first win on the Olympic stage.
Sir Chris previously recalled: “The moment that meant most, and which I remember most vividly, was when I was waiting to step on to the top step of the podium and I heard my name followed by ‘Olympic champion’.”
The 2008 Olympics in Beijing saw Sir Chris win THREE gold medals – securing first place in the sprint, team sprint and keirin.
London 2012
Most fans will remember Sir Chris for his efforts in a home Olympics as he lit the London velodrome alight.
After his incredible efforts in Beijing, Hoy was chosen as Team GB‘s flagbearer – leading out the team in front of 80,000 fans.
His efforts in London didn’t disappoint either, winning another two gold medals to add to his jam-packed mantlepiece.
Those medals made him Team GB’s all-time leading gold medal winner.
He has since been dethroned of that title by team-mate, friend and one of his “toughest opponents”, Jason Kenny.
However, Sir Chris will always be thought of as one of the faces of the London Games.