This article was originally published on Cyclingnews.com.
Sir Chris Hoy (Great Britain) rode into the history books at the London velodrome on Tuesday night as he picked up his 6th Olympic gold medal. The 36-year-old cruised through his heats in the keirin before clinching an epic final race. The win makes Hoy his nation's most successful Olympian of all time, and although it brings down the curtain on his glittering Olympic career, the Scot did not rule out one final major championship with the Commonwealth Games taking place in Glasgow in two year's time.
Hoy came into the keirin on the back of gold in the team sprint and in the final event on the track in these Olympic Games he hit the front early. It looked as though the home crowd would be left disappointed when Germany's Maximilian Levy came around the Scot mid-way through the final lap but with Hoy retaining the inside line and finding a final surge of speed, gold was rescued and Great Britain's domination in the track cemented. Levy, the only competitor to challenge Hoy in the final, took silver with Teun Mulder (The Netherlands) and Simon van Velthooven (New Zealand) sharing the bronze after crossing the line together.
Unable to load media
Video: Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton on their experience of London 2012 and the future for Team GB
"I couldn't have asked for more than that," Hoy said after clearly going through an emotional medal ceremony.
"I think you might have seen the emotion on my face when I got on the podium. It's just so much and you're containing your emotions for so long, you're focussing on performance and not the outcome. But to do this in front of a home crowd and people talk about the burden of expectations but it couldn't be further from the truth, for it's like a big hand pushing you a long the track. You feel this energy although you're trying to block out individual voices and that helped me in the last bend and the last straight."
Hoy has been the dominant force in men's track sprinting for almost a decade and London was always written in as his swan song Games. The British youngsters like Jason Kenny are snapping at his heels but Hoy would not rule out one final major championship in 2014 with the Commonwealth Games taking place in Scotland.
Asked if he would compete Hoy said, "I hope so. That's the dream end to finish in Glasgow. But having said that I'm not taking anything for granted because two more years is easily said. It's when you realise that you've got to do 35 hours a week and the sacrifices you put in, we'll wait and see. I'll have decent holiday and then reassess things and see how I am."