Cyclist Chris Hoy Sets British Record With Sixth Olympic Gold

British cycling legend Chris Hoy became his country’s greatest Olympian of all time Tuesday by winning his sixth gold medal with a dominating ride in the men’s keirin.

With the victory, Hoy, 36, overtook Brit rower Steve Redgrave’s impressive haul of five golds, and now has seven Olympic medals in total.

“This is what I always wanted,” Hoy said after receiving his record-breaking medal. “I wanted to win gold in front of my home crowd. This is the perfect end to my Olympic career. I look back four Games ago to Sydney and I was just over the moon to have a silver medal.

“‘If I had stopped then I’d have been a happy boy but to have gone to Athens, Beijing and to here, I can’t put into words what it means.”

Including Hoy’s final keirin victory, Britain won seven of the 10 gold medals awarded at the London Velodrome to match its haul from the Beijing Games — a feat that most experts said the GB cycling team could never repeat.

It also won a silver and a bronze to finish with nine medals overall.

(For those of you in the dark about keirin, Wikipedia defines it as a form of track-cycle racing in which cyclists sprint for victory following a speed-controlled start behind a motorized or non-motorized pacer.)

On his second-straight keirin gold, Hoy said:

“I’m in shock. The keirin is a lottery and you never take anything for granted in it. I can’t put into words what it means to me. It’s one of the greatest feelings I have ever had.”

via ESPN