| Hoy wins record sixth gold |
LONDON Sir Chris Hoy crowned his Olympic career with a record sixth gold medal here on Tuesday to become the most decorated British Olympian in history after powering to victory in the keirin.
Germany’s Maximilian Levy finished second to take the silver with New Zealand’s Simon Van Velthooven and Dutchman Teun Mulder sharing the bronze after a long wait for a photo finish decision.
Britain’s Laura Trott claimed her second gold of the Olympics with a surprise victory in the women’s track cycling omnium on Tuesday, pipping Sarah Hammer of the United States to the title in a thrilling time-trial finale.
With the American two points ahead as they entered the last of the omnium’s six events, Trott needed to finish at least three places better than her rival trial to guarantee the title - and she did exactly that, powering home to complete the 500m race in 35.11 seconds, with Hammer fourth on 35.9.
“You don’t put three places on Sarah Hammer very easily. She is the strongest rider out there,” said Trott, whose victory was met with deafening roars from the flag-waving home crowd.
“I thought I was going to be sick at the start ... I just got going and the crowd just drove me home.”
Hammer and Trott had been on level points at the end of the first day, with the 20-year-old Briton leading the overall standings thanks to her flying lap win.
Hoy won three Olympic gold medals in the sprint, keirin and team sprint four years ago to add to his kilometre time trial crown from Athens in 2004.
And despite being unable to defend his sprint title after being ousted by Jason Kenny for Britain’s sole spot in the event, Hoy struck gold twice in his two London events of the team sprint and keirin.
The 36-year-old Scot’s sixth gold means that on the count of gold medals alone, he overtakes Sir Steve Redgrave’s tally of five gold medals, all of which were won in consecutive Games.
“I’m in shock, you try and compose yourself but it’s surreal. I wanted to win gold in front of my home crowd. I saw everyone stepping up to the plate and thankfully it worked out for me too,” said Hoy.
Asked if he would compete at the Rio Games, Hoy said his preference would be to end his career at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“Not in an Olympic Games. I’m 99.9 per cent sure that I won’t be in Rio. Glasgow 2014, if I can keep going that would be the dream ending for me.”
Agencies
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