I’ve realised I can make a difference – Hoy

In his kitchen, Sir Chris Hoy and I chat about breakfast sandwiches and fry-ups.

and beliefs.

An Olympic champion’s mindset to be exact.

A rigorous, leave no stone unturned, and meticulous mindset defined a career in which he won six gold medals and one silver at each of the four Olympic games.

He is redefining his entire existence and purpose after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis on the same mindset he is more than ever relying on.

“We normally have a fry-up for breakfast but, when you guys are here, we need to make an effort”, he jokes.

The BBC cameras that have been following Hoy and his family and friends for the documentary Sir Chris Hoy: Cancer, Courage and Me have been the “you” in this instance.

The programme will be broadcast for the first time at 21:00 GMT on Thursday, 18 December on BBC One and available from 22:00 GMT on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

As he weighs his coffee – perhaps the number one area where Hoy’s obsessive eye for detail manifests itself – the Scot is in an upbeat mood, laughing and joking with wife Sarra about their imagined usual morning scenario of a full English breakfast compared to the omelette and green homemade smoothie they are actually tucking into.

However, it hasn’t been nearly as rosy for the better part of the past two years as Hoy claims when the cameras are properly rolling a few minutes later.

He claims that he has traveled five miles to the hospital to return home after learning about his cancer diagnosis in September 2023. “I just walked back in a daze. The walk is not remembered by me. How will I tell Sarra, I was just thinking? What am I going to say?

I broke down as soon as I said those words.

A terminal cancer diagnosis was what Hoy had to explain. Incurable secondary bone cancer. To live, you need two and four years.

He asserts that “process was always the focus of my sporting career, not outcome.” Focus on what you have control over. However, whether you prevail or lose, neither is it life or death.

Hoy has wisely offered his support during this trying time in his life.

Hoy was aware of the potential impact of Steve Peters.

The list of sportspeople that Peters has worked with – the public list he is happy to talk about on the record – is a high-profile ‘ who’s who ‘ ranging from Steven Gerrard to Ronnie O’Sullivan.

That glitzy, glamorous list betrays the donkeys in the psychiatrist’s rural home’s front paddock.

But if you spend a few hours with Peters and Hoy, their tranquility makes perfect sense.

Peters was Hoy’s first port of call throughout his career when it came to training and calming his mind to be at its peak in and around Olympic competition.

Hoy called him one of the first time he received a terminal diagnosis last year.

In the first few days following diagnosis, Hoy’s wife Sarra describes what she called a “deep grief” at first.

But in time, with Peters ‘ help, Hoy set about finding a new purpose.

Firstly, it aims to raise awareness of the UK’s current prostate cancer treatment options. Prostate cancer has been diagnosed in both Hoy’s grandfather and father.

Understandably, given an earlier diagnosis could have shifted his diagnosis from terminal to manageable, the 49-year-old Scot argues eloquently that a national screening programme should be made a priority for men from their 45th birthday onwards.

But crucially, his approach also demonstrates that, even after receiving treatment, sport and exercise can still be a vital component of people’s lives.

What Chris did when he first got this illness, Peters says, “Right, what’s the plan?” After we worked through the initial stages of the shock and grief of it, then he came out the other side and he picked up on the purpose.

Peters knows all too well how unstoppable Hoy can be when a mission takes him over.

The pair’s most notable accomplishment was their participation in the Athens 2004 Games, which they have now worked together for more than 20 years.

Hoy won his first Olympic gold using Peters’ “pink elephant” technique in the Greek capital. In the run-up to Athens, Peters had encouraged Hoy to pre-empt a scenario in which his rivals broke the world record in the men’s kilometre time trial before the Scot had his chance to ride. Hoy, the last rider, broke the record by setting a third time on his own to claim gold, despite the fact that the scenario tripled.

He is re-enticing in his approach to cancer to the mentality of that time. Control the controllables, but don’t waste time worrying about the end result.

similar to Athens’.

A personal best would have placed me third as I entered the starting lineup, Hoy recalls.

” Recognising what you have control over is such an important part of life. You don’t have control over the outcome, but you do have control over the outcome.

“Steve guided me in getting the best out of myself,” he said.

The BBC Breakfast and BBC Sport cameras witnessed Hoy, with the help of Lady Sarra – who herself is dealing with her own diagnosis of multiple sclerosis – making the best of his cancer diagnosis in the last 12 months.

They have followed Hoy and his family to appointments for physiotherapy and medical care, as well as riding mountain bikes in Wales with friends and riders from the GB Olympic cycling team.

Just before Hoy’s charity mass participation cycling event, the Tour de Four, is scheduled to begin, it is just after 9 am in a back room of the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow.

In an effort to alter perceptions surrounding stage four cancer, the ride was set up and given its name.

Every time the door opens, a member of British Olympic and Paralympic royalty walks through it.

Dame Sarah Storey, Sir Mark Cavendish, Sir Jason Kenny, Becky James, Dani King, Sir Ben Ainslie, Sir Steve Redgrave, and Sir Jason Kenny…

Another sporting knight is present in and among the clip-clop of cycling cleats.

This one is wearing tennis shoes.

Hoy checks in with Sir Andy Murray about his readiness, and the Scot’s fellow Scot makes a raunchy quip.

Hoy asks, “Are you ready, mate?”

“Well, I’ve got the kit”, Murray responds.

Turns out, the two-time Wimbledon champion completed the journey in boxer shorts and tennis shoes. Not your typical road cycling equipment, but Hoy’s friends’ response to your diagnosis is typical.

“The response of friends has been quite overwhelming at times”, Hoy says.

The public’s response to the friend response has echoed this sentiment.

More than £3 million was raised for UK cancer charities during the Tour de Four in September.

However, the highs of that success were followed in November by the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation that a prostate screening cancer programme for all men in the UK was not justified.

Hoy’s new Olympic-sized mission required him to raise money and awareness, so his response was dignified yet steadfast.

He said, “I was quite shocked.” “I can’t believe that the answer to this situation is to sit on your hands and do nothing. In the UK, 10,000 men discover prostate cancer too late, an incurable condition, each year.

If we don’t take action, we’re failing these men, they say. Regardless, I’m going to keep pushing. “

We again encounter his focused, Olympic-honed mindset with a larger goal.

Hoy says, “The Olympics was something that changed my life for so long and continued to inspire me.”

” I’m still incredibly proud of it now and I look back with great fondness, but this is something on an entirely different level.