On This Day in 2013: Sir Chris Hoy announces his retirement from cycling

The Scot was Britain’s most successful Olympian at the time with six gold medals

Sir Chris Hoy won his sixth Olympic gold medal in the men’s keirin at London 2012 (Stephen Pond/PA) (PA Archive)

Sir Chris Hoy, Britain’s most successful Olympian at the time, announced his retirement from cycling on this day in 2013.

Hoy, then 37, won his sixth Olympic gold medal at London 2012, surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave’s previous mark of five, and also won 11 world titles.

Fellow cyclist and former Great Britain team-mate Sir Jason Kenny has since bettered Hoy’s Olympic record by claiming his seventh gold at Tokyo 2020.

Hoy had wanted to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow at the velodrome which bears his name, but over a decade at the top of his sport had taken its toll.

He announced his retirement at Murrayfield in his home city of Edinburgh, saying: “I wanted to get a medal for Scotland. I didn’t think I could so wanted someone else to take my place.

“It is a hard time – it is one moment at the end of your career when you say enough is enough.”

Hoy had been at the forefront of British cycling’s rise to prominence at the Olympics.

Hoy celebrates winning his sixth and final Olympic gold medal in the keirin at London 2012 (Stephen Pond/PA) (PA Archive)

The silver medal he took alongside Jason Queally and Craig MacLean at Sydney 2000 was a breakthrough moment, as was the gold Queally took in the kilo at the same Games.

Hoy’s own first Olympic gold medal came in the kilo in Athens in 2004 and at Beijing 2008 the Scot helped Britain top the medal table inside the velodrome.

There he dominated, adding three gold medals by winning the keirin, team sprint and individual sprint.

His preparations for London 2012 were hindered by a series of injuries, but he overcame them to deliver on the biggest stage again by winning the team sprint and keirin.