Sir Chris Hoy hit out at cycling's world governing body on Wednesday after he was denied the chance to compete for three gold medals at the London Olympics. The 36-year-old capped a remarkable Olympic career on Tuesday with his British record sixth gold medal in a dramatic keirinrace. It was Hoy's second gold of a hugely successful Olympics for Britain's track cyclists as they won seven of the 10 events in the velodrome.
But 24 hours after the action wrapped up, Hoy revealed he still harboured some frustration that he could not have added further to his haul ofmedals. Hoy was overlooked for the men's sprint in favour of Jason Kenny – a decision vindicated by the Bolton rider's gold medal and one which the Scot had publicly backed. Hoy, however, believes BritishCycling's bosses should not have been forced to make the call before the Gamesdue to a change in policy from the International Cycling Union (UCI). Following Team GB's dominance in Beijing four years ago the UCI, among other alterations to the Olympic programme, opted to restrict each nation to one rider in the sprint race – which Hoy won in China.
The Scot has previously been outspoken on the matter but after an Olympics which has been marked by memorable inter-country battles – such as between Jamaica's Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake on the track and Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps of USA in the pool – he was moved to make his feelings heard again. "We knew there was only one rider per nation. It was disappointing not just for us but also for the other nations and for the fans," he said. "I think they missed out on a number of top-class competitors in a number of the events.
"Can you imagine a 100m final with only one Jamaican or American runner? Anyway, it happened and we dealt with it and I think we dealt with it well."
Hoy also claimed that Britain's track cycling success had undermined a perceived bid by the UCI to "manipulate" the medal table. The UCI shuffled the events on the Olympic programme – which also involved evening up the number of women's and men's track events at five apiece – after Britain also won seven track golds in 2008.
Further success on the road in London, with Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins winning the time trial, means Team GB's cyclist have never been more dominant.
"It's immensely satisfying," he said.
"It didn't really work out for the UCI in their attempt to manipulate the medal table. To have the seven gold medals on the track and Bradley's and the potentially more success with the BMXers and mountain bikers, it has been fantastic.
"I don't think any of us really believed that we were going to emulate Beijing. we've been blown away by it."
After signing off his Olympic career, which began with gold in the 1km time trial at Athens in 2004, Hoy has called for the funding that has established Team GB's dominance in the velodrome to remain.
"Fifteen years ago the National Lottery funding started and that was the catalyst and starting point for the team," he said.
"Peter Keen had this vision for where cycling was going to go and we all thought he was mad initially when he had this dream to be the best team in the world. For someone like Laura [Trott, double gold medallist] she has only known the team as it is now but for the older riders like myself we remember it when it was run on a shoestring budget. That's why we take so much pride in seeing how far it has come in a short space of time."
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