CHRIS Hoy admits his triple Olympic gold medals success would not have been possible if the event he won in Athens four years ago, the kilo time trial, had not been controversially dropped from the schedule this time around.
Cycling's ruling body, the UCI, discarded the kilo to make way for BMX. It forced Hoy to reinvent himself, as he added the keirin and the sprint to the team sprint.
Standing proudly on the top step of the podium for the third time in less than a w
eek last night after clinching the sprint title, it was UCI chief Pat McQuaid who presented Hoy with his bouquet of flowers and the pair exchanged a few words and a laugh. "He said to me: 'You've got to forgive me now. There's no way you would have won three golds if the kilo had still been in.' I said 'yeah, fair enough'."
Post Athens, the news that his preferred event was being replaced prompted anger from Hoy and he confessed he thought it had hindered rather than enhanced his chances of adding to his medal collection. In the intervening period, though, he has adapted to the new disciplines and developed the tactical awareness he needed to combine with the simple speed of the kilo. "I would have laughed at you if you had said this was possible even two years ago. I think it was because until the last two or three years, we have not had the real sprint coach advice needed."
That is where coaches Iain Dyer and Jan Van Eijden came in. "They know the events inside and out and they tell us what to do and basically I have been thinking less about the speed and more about the timing and when to use that speed. In the past I didn't really have a clue what I was doing and I would make mistakes but never really learn from them."
Those mistakes are now few and far between, and the Scot has proved unbeatable throughout these Olympics.
The significant breakthrough had come in the World Championships earlier this year when he added the sprint title to the Keirin. "The standard at the World Cups and World Championships was at a higher level than ever before. There was less than a tenth of a second covering first to eighth place – minimal gaps, therefore it comes down to how you race on the day, the match sprinting."
So impressive has been the transformation, build up work and times posted in training, former Olympic champion Jason Queally had shown complete faith, wagering his friend would win all three golds. "He put £50 on me and I found that out before tonight," said Hoy. "I think he's won two and a half grand on me!"
In the sprint final, Hoy's GB colleague Jason Kenny gave him a tough test. Lining up against him in the final, it was the 32-year-old sorcerer and his 20-year-old apprentice and Hoy proved that for the time being at least he still has too many tricks up his sleeve, triumphing in the first two rides to win the best-of-three series and the gold.
Only after he had crossed the line and punched the air did he allow himself to absorb the enormity of his achievement.
"To be honest, I wasn't really thinking about that before, I was just trying to keep up with Bradley (Wiggins, who won two golds at these Games but failed to add a third in the Madison yesterday] and everyone else in the team. You have to win more than one gold to get a look in."
It was a valid point given the high class performances delivered by a cycling team which has thus far won eight golds, four silver and two bronze medals, with the BMX and mountainbiking still to come. "I wasn't thinking about it too much, the important thing is you focus on your race, not on what it would mean if you won. But it is pretty special.
"It's just bizarre because you think multiple Olympic medals are for somebody like Steve Redgrave or Matthew Pinsent or Michael Phelps and while I have not achieved what they've achieved, to have more than one gold medal hanging round my neck is a pretty special feeling."
After he rounded the track in a few laps of honour he greeted his coaches with big hugs and a few tears, before burying his head in his father David's shoulder and being engulfed by his mother Carol, sister Carrie and girlfriend Sarra. On the podium, he bit his lip and fought to control tears.
"It was just relief that it was all over. We have kept a lid on all this emotion for so long but then it just comes out. They teach us is to try to keep the emotion and thinking apart. It's all about operating like a robot because if you act human then that's when you start making mistakes. But you have to be human some times and it's hard because I'm an emotional person. I've had to learn to turn it off and on."
Having won the title and completed a British rout of the track medals in a campaign which was fittingly started by Hoy in the team sprint and rounded off by the poster boy of the side, he said he had finally switched off.
"I will let you into a little secret," he smiled. "Our massage therapist is Belgian and he put some Belgian beer into my recovery drinks bottle so the first drink I had after the podium wasn't a protein shake!"
He had allowed himself one beer in the past year – a token celebration of his triumphs at the World Championships before getting straight back into the pre-Olympics training – so deserved every drop last night. Becoming one of the greatest Olympians of all time, is after all something worth toasting.
BACKGROUND
HENRY Taylor was the last Briton to win three gold medals in the same Olympics, fully 100 years ago in the London Games of 1908.
Having learned to swim in canals near his home of Hollinwood, near Oldham, the Englishman served notice of his talent by winning a gold medal in the 1500m at the 1906 Intercalated Olympics in Athens, separately organised by the Greek government.
Two years later, the 23-year-old won the freestyle event over 400m and 1500m and was also a part of Britain's winning 4x200m freestyle relay team.
Taylor won a bronze medal in the relay four years later in Stockholm before joining the Navy for the First World War. His ship, HMS St Vincent, was sunk in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, but he survived two hours in the water before being rescued, having swum around encouraging his fellow crew members to stay afloat.
He returned to Olympic competition in 1920 in Antwerp, taking another bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay as well as playing on Britain's water polo team.
Trained by his elder brother Bill, Taylor accumulated 300 medals of various description and importance during his swimming career.
Taylor died, aged 65, in Chaddington, Lancashire in 1951.
The full article contains 1223 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
