It is October; the world has turned its focus away from the Olympic storm, which blew gusts of excitement and hype over Beijing. On August 19th, the eye of the storm was the Laoshan Velodrome; it was a tussle of the titans, a battle of brawn and there was a worthy winner.

Chris Hoy powering over the line in front of Jason Kenny to claim the sprint title and his third gold medal of the 2008 Olympics may be your unforgettable moment of the Olympics, or it may be the first time you saw him doing his stuff on the track.

As Hoy crossed the finish line in Beijing, you may have noticed the camera cutting to a shot of a group in the crowd. They were elated each time, celebrating their man’s victory on the track. Team Hoy understand the hard work which has gone into producing so many winning performances at the highest level, none more so than his father, David.

Speaking with In The Winning Zone on his return from Beijing, David revealed what it has taken for his son to become an Olympic champion, the importance of education in reaching that level and why anything is possible with hard work and a positive mentality.

Beijing was undoubtedly a collection of Chris Hoy’s finest moments, but David has been there all along to experience the rise and rise of Scotland’s greatest Olympian. He saw the cuts and bruises, the joy and the misery, the grit and the determination.

Though he admits he wasn’t aiming to get to the top in sport as a youngster, David dabbled in a bit of everything while he gained his education in Edinburgh. It was his son’s ambitions that brought him back into the world of sport as a parent.

Often critical of the structure of various sports and sporting events, David would spend most of his free time concentrating on sport in some shape or form. If there was something he could change for the better, he would make an attempt. If an avenue wasn’t available to further his son’s career – he would do his best to lay the foundations for progression.

“Right from when Chris was young and doing BMX, I was always very critical if things weren’t right. So I got involved with BMX administration and I was on the board of Scottish BMX and helped to run a club out at Livingston.”

David experienced his son conquering Scotland, and then progressing on to Britain and now he can proudly say that his son has conquered the world of track cycling. When questioned on the proudest moment of his son’s career, David hesitates. Understandably there are a few stages, which David underlines as important milestones in his son’s career. But surprisingly, top of the list wasn’t his achievements in Beijing.

“Probably finishing second in the BMX nationals when he was about 10 years old, that was the big breakthrough.”

It was a breakthrough because it was Hoy’s first major medal. David underlines the fact that Chris wasn’t a born winner; in fact, he struggled to cross the line first in his early sporting career. “He always finished second to a guy called Matt Boyle”, he says. But that wasn’t a problem, he was determined to push forward and cross the line first and Dad was there to support him.

“He was never up there but he just kept plugging away. You’ve seen other kids who were winning all the time and when they get beaten they don’t like it so they stop what they’re doing. As long as they’re enjoying it and they’re doing pretty well, there is not a lot between first and second.”

When Chris decided to move on from the BMX scene and into Mountain biking, David was there to lend a hand. Taking over at the helm, David ran the Scottish Mountain Biking cross-country series for seven years, ensuring races were organised, and a structure was in place for the progression of Scotland’s young mountain bikers.

So what was Hoy senior’s actual role in bringing his son from an ambitious youth to future world champion? He was his driver, mechanic and coach, to name a few. Though he was no expert in his son’s sport, David endeavoured to support Chris in reaching his goals.

Embarrassed by the attitude some parents he came across had towards their children at sporting meets, Hoy decided to take two coaching courses which he believes helped him to help his son go further.

“One was in the psychology of children’s sport and the other one was about observation. They taught us how to juggle one evening, it was basically a case of watching what somebody was doing, analysing it and then putting it into action.

“The psychology bit was, I thought, quite important. In as much as I’ve seen some totally screwed up kids and parents at race meetings and athletics meetings or whatever, and I just didn’t want to go down that road. So, anything that Chris did was always encouragement and self-motivation more than anything else.”

David admits that his real role was driver and mechanic. He would drive Chris over hundreds of miles on some weekends, and during the summer months he would be on the road three weekends out of four, all because he knew that it would benefit his son in the long run. When his son started winning, David searched the country for the best competition for Chris to race against.

“I’ve always been of the opinion that there is no point in being the best in your own back yard. As soon as you’re winning everything, you need to move on and find someone who can beat you. Then analyze why they’re beating you and improve, and as soon as you’re beating them you move onto the next level, that’s what we did with Chris.”

Highlighting another crucial factor in Chris’ ambition to reach the top, David mentions a meeting between Chris and his coach at Dunedin Cycling Club. “When he was 13 or 14, Chris had a good coach (Ray Harris) and someone who didn’t laugh when he said that he wanted to win Olympic Gold. This particular coach took him seriously and asked, “How are you going to do that? What are you going to do to get it?”

For David, that was the start. Chris was lucky, he had a coach who encouraged him to reach for the sky, and a father who would do anything he could to help him get there.

Now, David has watched Chris gain a degree, something he encouraged his son to do when he finished his secondary education at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh. In fact, David sees education as a vital factor in producing a successful sportsperson.

“You have to get you’re life ordered so you can devote enough time to your schoolwork because most sport nowadays is highly technical, whether its to do with your diet, your equipment, your training regime, anything really.

“I think the average, educationally challenged athlete who just does exactly what his coach tells him, I think fewer and fewer of these are coming through.”

Chris was again lucky, in that at the time of him completing his degree in sports science at The University of Edinburgh, British Cycling was unveiling the world-class plan. Chris, being accepted onto the plan, made his final step towards world domination, and the demanding training began.

Dad was no longer required as the driver, and British Cycling began to supply the mechanics but David watched on as his son put in hours of work every single day in an effort to reach his target.

He has seen his son rise from crossing the line second and third in BMX races as a boy, to winning multiple medals at World Championships, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics. But what does David believes has been the key to his sons success?

“I think just hard work, and his character, He likes training. He tries to set a PB every day of his life. Every time he goes into the gym he tries to add a kilogram on the bar, every time he gets on the bike he tries to take another hundredth off his last time.”

IC
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