Cycling: You can keep your hi-tech helmets. For Chris Hoy, the thighs have it

Thunder thighs: Chris Hoy in Beijing, at the peak of his powers (Getty Images)

The Olympic legend is set to retire on Thursday. Here is his cycling career tracked by the size of his monolithic thighs.

The BMX years – 1984-early 90s

Thighs: Scrawny and teenage, yet still strong enough to fell a tree

Sydney 2000

Medals: Silver – team sprint

Thighs: Getting there. Imagine a Brontomerus leaving adolescence.

Athens 2004

Medals: Gold – 1km track time trial

Thighs: Increasingly log-like. Not quite in The Wrong Trousers territory yet.

Beijing 2008

Medals: Gold – team sprint, keirin, sprint

Thighs: Peak thigh – bulbous, elephantine Doric columns of power.

London 2012

Medals: Gold – team sprint, keirin

Thighs: Like a decommissioned anti-aircraft gun, still fatally powerful.