Cycling: You can keep your hi-tech helmets. For Chris Hoy, the thighs have it

 

Will Dean
Tuesday 16 April 2013 18:34 BST
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Thunder thighs: Chris Hoy in Beijing, at the peak of his powers
Thunder thighs: Chris Hoy in Beijing, at the peak of his powers (Getty Images)

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The Olympic legend is set to retire on Thursday. Here is his cycling career tracked by the size of his monolithic thighs.

The BMX years – 1984-early 90s

Thighs: Scrawny and teenage, yet still strong enough to fell a tree

Sydney 2000

Medals: Silver – team sprint

Thighs: Getting there. Imagine a Brontomerus leaving adolescence.

Athens 2004

Medals: Gold – 1km track time trial

Thighs: Increasingly log-like. Not quite in The Wrong Trousers territory yet.

Beijing 2008

Medals: Gold – team sprint, keirin, sprint

Thighs: Peak thigh – bulbous, elephantine Doric columns of power.

London 2012

Medals: Gold – team sprint, keirin

Thighs: Like a decommissioned anti-aircraft gun, still fatally powerful.

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