Chris Hoy: The Autobiography by Chris Hoy

Author:Chris Hoy [Hoy, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biographies & Memoirs
ISBN: 9780007343737
Google: o1P_y7nlmXYC
Amazon: 0007343736
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Published: 2009-10-14T23:00:00+00:00

One of the things Steve Peters stresses, which fortunately comes quite naturally to me, is to focus on processes rather than outcomes. It would be an unnecessary and unhelpful distraction to think about how life might or might not change when you are Olympic champion, when you should be focused only on doing the work that could ensure that you have a chance of becoming Olympic champion. As I say, this comes naturally to me: I enjoy training; I enjoy the process of working towards a goal. I suppose you could say I like the idea of being on a journey, without necessarily thinking about the destination.

But it meant that I had been so focused on the journey to the Olympics that I hadn’t given a second’s thought to life after Athens. In fact, as my dazed reaction to winning demonstrated, I hadn’t even considered what I would do as I crossed the line at the end of my race.

It is quite common, I think, for people who achieve their dreams to struggle a little afterwards. I’ve heard some Olympic champions say that they had difficulty coming to terms with the fact that an Olympic gold medal didn’t change their life. A bit like lottery players who dream of winning millions, I think some imagine that a gold medal will solve all their problems – and make them happy – in a single stroke.

That wasn’t a problem for me, because it never occurred to me that being Olympic champion would fundamentally change my life. Yet it did for a while change my attitude to my sport – or rather, to my event – and not in a very positive way. The difficulty I encountered after Athens was that no kilo was ever going to measure up. There was never going to be the same drama, the same excitement, the same pressure. Other races seemed like an anti-climax. Even when I only finished third in the 2005 world championships in Los Angeles, behind Theo Bos and Jason Queally, I was disappointed, but not distraught. Which was a sign, I think, that it didn’t mean that much to me – after Athens, it couldn’t. I wanted to win, and I certainly didn’t enjoy losing, but the real desire had gone.

The thing is that training for the kilo is bloody hard. You have to put yourself through the wringer in every session. And you have to be in the right frame of mind to do that.

But I imagined and hoped that this was a temporary lapse, and that the desire would return in time for the Beijing Olympics. I certainly wasn’t prepared for the phone call I received as I sat having lunch in a Manchester restaurant in June 2005.

It was Shane. ‘G’day mate.’ The usual greeting. ‘You sitting down, mate?’ Again, a typical Shane question, just before a wind-up. ‘The kilo’s gone,’ he continued. ‘UCI have dumped it from the Olympics.’

Not for a second did I think he was serious. I knew

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