Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 30, 2016

Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy, MBE (born 23 March 1976), known as Chris Hoy, is a British racing driver and former track cyclist who represented Great Britain at the Olympics and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is an eleven-time world champion, six-time Olympic champion and a winner of a total of seven Olympic Games medals, six gold and one silver. With his three gold medals in Beijing 2008, Hoy became Scotland's most successful Olympian, the first Briton to win three gold medals in a single Olympic games since Henry Taylor, in 1908, and the most successful Olympic cyclist. He won a further two gold medals (in the keirin and team sprint) at the London 2012 Olympics, making him the most successful British Olympian of all time in terms of gold medals, and the joint most decorated athlete with Bradley Wiggins with seven medals in total.

Born in Edinburgh in Scotland, Hoy was educated at George Watson's College, a co-educational independent school in Edinburgh, followed by the University of St Andrews in 1996. He subsequently transferred to the University of Edinburgh, from which he graduated B.Sc. (Hons.) in Applied Sports Science in 1999. Hoy was inspired to cycle at age six by the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Before track cycling, Hoy raced BMX between the ages of 7 and 14 and was ranked second in Britain, fifth in Europe, and ninth in the world. He received sponsorship from Slazenger and Kwik-Fit, and was competing in Europe and the U.S. He first became aware of track cycling when he watched TV coverage of Scottish sprinter Eddie Alexander winning a bronze medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Hoy also rowed for the Scottish junior team, coming second in the 1993 British championship with Grant Florence in the coxless pairs. He played rugby as part of his school's team.