Sir Chris Hoy was knighted for services to sport in the 2009 New Years Honours but, in a memorable year, was also voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2008. Edinburgh-born Hoy had been the subject of a media campaign in his native Scotland but, nonetheless, polled nearly 40% of the public vote, to beat racing driver Lewis Hamilton and swimmer Rebecca Adlington – both of whom were better-fancied by the bookmakers – into second and third place respectively.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Hoy won three gold medals at the Laoshan Velodrome, in the keirin, the individual sprint and the team sprint, alongside Jason Kenny and Jamie Staff. He thus became the first Briton since swimmer Henry Taylor – who won the 400 metre freestyle, 4 x 200 metre freestyle and the 1500 metre freestyle at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London – two win three gold medals at a single Games. He subsequently became the first cyclist to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year since Tommy Simpson, who won the UCI Road World Championships, in 1965.
After accepting the trophy from four-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson, Hoy, 32, said, “
I’m just overwhelmed. This is incredible.” His victory may have delivered the third suprise in as many years, after equestrian Zara Phillips in 2006 and boxer Joe Calzaghe in 2007 but, in his defence, he had just become the most successful male Olympic cyclist of all time. In fact, he would remain that way until his former teammate Jason Kenny (by then Sir Jason) won the keirin event at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 to increase his tally to seven gold medals.
Hoy retired from competitive cycling in 2013 as a six-time Olympic champion but, as a bleak footnote, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023, which he later revealed to be terminal. Nevertheless, he attended Sports Personality Of The Year 2024 along with his wife Sarra Kemp and delivered a heartfelt speech, in which he praised the dedication shown by Olympic and Paralympic athletes. He said, “1460 days of pure obsession for a single event. But let me tell you, it’s worth it.”