Despite having just turned 36 – making ‘veteran’ the polite term – Sir Chris Hoy is clearly in fighting spirit ahead of the Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne (beginning April 4), telling the press conference on the subject of the upcoming Olympics: ‘if I can repeat (my performance from) Beijing, then that’s the dream scenario.’ Having won triple Gold in 2008 his more modest ambition for London is to retain at least two top spots – ‘I would love to repeat my performances at Beijing in London but to be honest, for me I’m just going to go out there and do my best and just hope to win a gold medal… If I could win two or three that would be amazing but really my aim is to be Olympic champion in London.’
Hoy, 10-time world champion, is going head to head at the Hisense Arena next week with reigning world champion Jason Kenny (who was also second to Hoy in Beijing), an event that will determine the taker of the one remaining British place for the sprint at the London games.
Summing up, Hoy told the assembled journalists: ‘I’m pleased I’ve done pretty well this year so far and if I can have another good performance here then hopefully it’ll be enough. The ideal swansong would be to have a successful Games in London and then to go on to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow because I’ve never actually raced internationally in my home country in Scotland.’
