• London 2012 - Cycling

Hoy becomes most successful British Olympian

Sir Chris Hoy took his second gold of the Games © PA Photos

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Sir Chris Hoy was crowned Britain's most successful Olympian by claiming the sixth gold medal of his Games career in the keirin.

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Hoy previously shared the record with Sir Steve Redgrave, who retired with five rowing gold medals. But the Scot's second success at London 2012, following on from his victory in the team pursuit, elevates him to an unprecedented level of Olympic achievement among his British peers.

Hoy settled into third place in the six-man keirin field during the early laps behind the Derny, before bursting to the front with two to go. He was overtaken around the final bend by Maximilian Levy, only to find a little extra in his 36-year-old legs and sprint to a place in immortality.

Germany's Levy was forced to settle for silver, and Simon van Velthooven of Australia shared the bronze medal with Teun Mulder of Netherlands.

"I'm in shock. Trying to take it all in - this is surreal," Hoy told the BBC. "This is what I always wanted, to win gold in front of my home crowd. I saw everyone stepping up to the plate and wanted to do my bit for the team. The keirin is very much a lottery, one mistake and you're done. The feeling at the moment is unbelievable.

"This is the perfect end to my Olympic career. I look back to Sydney and I was over the moon to have a silver. If I'd have stopped then I'd be happy. No more Olympics, I'm 99.9% sure I won't be there in Rio. How can you top this, this is phenomenal."

Hoy's final Olympic tally reads one gold from Athens in 2004, three from Beijing four years later, and now two in London. He also grabbed a silver in Sydney 12 years ago.

His keirin triumph means Britain took seven of the ten golds up for grabs in the Velodrome at the Games.

Men's Keirin

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