Sir Chris Hoy: How To Win Gold


Sir Chris Hoy: How To Win Gold

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'And let us not forget also, Chris Hoy, five gold and one silver,

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'is poised here to become

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'the greatest British Olympian of all time.'

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Last day of competition, London 2012, one last race to go.

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This was my chance. A dream ending.

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Oh! The pressure is...

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I mean, pressure only exists in your mind,

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it's not something you can measure, you can't quantify it.

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You know, it's how you perceive it. So not going into it seeing myself

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as someone with the weight of the world on his shoulder,

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I was trying to go in thinking, "This is an amazing opportunity."

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It's kind of silly when you think about it,

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all those sleepless nights,

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all about riding a bike in a circle, you know.

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By the time I got here to the verge of a sixth Olympic gold medal,

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I'd been riding my bike round in circles for most of my life.

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The success I had never stopped surprising me,

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because I don't think I was simply born a champion.

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I don't think anyone is.

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I want to show you how champions are made...

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..through endless hard work and determination,

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by victory AND defeat,

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by brain as well as brawn...

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..by great teams and amazing support.

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And if I can do it...anyone can.

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Because we all start off with a chance of winning gold.

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I might have retired from cycling last year,

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but I wasn't ready for the pipe and slippers just yet.

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ENGINE ROARS TYRES SCREECH

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This is my new passion.

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And my dream is to compete in the Les Mans 24-Hour Race

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in a GT car like this.

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Six Olympic gold medals or not, I'm the novice here.

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And my mentor is a gifted young driver,

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22-year-old Jann Mardenborough.

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We can go in definitely harder.

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-By mid-corner we're sort of like...

-Yeah.

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We need to go, we need to go

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and then that pushes the front on even more.

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And by the time you're full throttle,

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you've got still quite a lot of lock on.

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ENGINE REVS

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TYRES SCREECH

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I really don't know what sparked my competitive drive,

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I just know that whatever I do, I want to do it well.

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'Here comes Hoy. Hoy hits the line with one lap to go.

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'And the challenge is coming here from....'

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Personally, I blame the parents.

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INDISTINCT COMMENTARY

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His first bike was from a jumble sale,

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painted it up and put stickers on it,

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made it look pretty cool.

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And it broke after a couple of weeks,

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cos it wasn't designed for the punishment he was giving it.

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He then got a neighbour's bike, which to his shame was a girls' frame,

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but he was too young to know the difference.

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HE LAUGHS That didn't last long either.

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So, eventually, we were forced into buying him a proper race bike.

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That was it, he was on his way to world domination.

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HE LAUGHS

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'And he's into third spot and he will qualify.'

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Chris always liked to be doing something.

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Even as a wee boy, if it was raining outside he'd say,

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"Oh, Mum, wish I could go out to the garden."

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Or, "Can we go round the block? I just want to run, run and run."

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And it could have been... Well, I kind of hoped it would be tennis

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and then he'd make some real money, but he didn't do that.

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Whatever he did, he wanted to do it properly

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and he would ask someone who knew, "Is that right?"

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And they would say, "Yeah, it's good, but if you do this way..."

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And he would do it and then be pleased.

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And not in a showy-offy way,

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he just wanted to do the best that he could.

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I don't think I was a pushy parent.

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And I was conscious of some parents who were, I think,

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living their dreams through their...their kids.

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There was one international race we went to

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and the Italian kid's father

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was actually boxing him around the ears as he came through the finish.

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So he was obviously really disappointed

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in his son's performance, but I tried not to do that.

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I don't know if I recognised any potential,

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I just always thought it would be nice

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if he could achieve as much as he could.

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When I was younger going to a BMX race, when I was, you know,

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nine or ten years of age, if it was a race down in the south of England

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my dad would come in from work on a Friday night,

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we'd have our dinner, Mum would make the sandwiches

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and pack, you know, the picnic for the weekend.

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My dad would get the car packed,

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we'd put the back seats down in the old Citroen diesel car

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that had about 120,000-150,000 miles on the clock.

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And, you know, we'd have our meal, get the bags packed

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and about 11 o'clock at night,

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we'd jump in the car and I would just basically go to sleep.

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I would lie down on this mattress in the back seat of the car,

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duvet, pillow, my dad would drive and we'd go through the night,

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arrive down wherever it was,

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south coast of England early in the morning,

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I would wake up nice and fresh.

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Get to the track, nobody else would be on the track

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at that time in the morning - I would do my practice then.

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My dad would then catch up with his sleep

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and I'd race Saturday, race Sunday, jump back in the car

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and drive all the way back up again.

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I had no idea at that time

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just how much of a sacrifice it was for my parents to do that.

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And it wasn't because they thought

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that I was going to become a champion cyclist

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and they would get their reward,

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you know, "This will be fantastic, he'll be Olympic Champion."

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It was just, I think, to give me an opportunity

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to try and pursue something that I absolutely loved.

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Loving a sport is what it's all about.

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But to become a champion, the sport's got to love you back.

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It's got to be right for your body shape and size.

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If you're cut out to be a marathon runner,

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then you're not going to be a great shot-putter.

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If you're built like a jockey,

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you're probably not going to be a champion basketball player.

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But you've also got to be lucky enough to find the right sport.

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You can't become a champion at anything

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unless you give it a go in the first place.

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SIREN

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-Ahoy there!

-How you doing?

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How's it going?

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Sir Steve Redgrave is quite simply a legend.

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You coming in?

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He's one of the world's most successful ever rowers.

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He's also passionate about getting people into boats.

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Even land animals like me.

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We don't want you falling in the canal.

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I'm trying not to fall in the canal.

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I did row a bit at school... but that wasn't yesterday.

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When were you last out in a pair?

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Pair...a long time ago.

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Last time I was out in a pair was 20 years ago

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-and it was probably on this very stretch of water.

-OK.

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So have you still got the skill?

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Or did you go to cycling because you didn't have the skill?

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-You never lose class, do you, Steve?

-STEVE LAUGHS

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The form goes, but the class never goes.

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Yeah, I'm not brilliant, to be fair,

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-but let's give it a go, shall we?

-Yeah.

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OK.

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The boat Steve's picked for us is a high-performance racing pair.

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It might be fast, but what you gain in speed you sacrifice in stability.

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If we're going to go in, this will be the point.

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I'll do the shoes loosely, then.

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What weight is this boat designed for, do you think?

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-They say it's 100 kilos.

-Is it?

-How much are you?

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-About 92.

-OK, so you're well under.

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-I'm well over.

-Well...

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-Right, now the difficult bit.

-OK. We ready?

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-You got it?

-Yeah, all mine.

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The sun's in my eyes as well, that's another excuse.

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OK, paddle. Ready, go.

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100m down the canal and we're still dry.

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It's not quite an Olympic gold, but I'll take it as a victory.

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It's slowly coming back. I think, if you had consistent up and down,

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not sort of stopping all the time,

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I think you'd probably... It would come back relatively quickly.

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-H's doing really well.

-Take a little stroke.

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CHRIS LAUGHS

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Rowing didn't turn out to be quite right for me,

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but for Steve it was a perfect fit.

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So when did you actually start rowing?

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-How old were you when you got into it?

-I was 13, nearly 14.

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-Through school, was it?

-And it was the Head of the English Department

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at a small comprehensive school that I went to.

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And he asked me if I would like to try the sport of rowing.

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And I thought going out on the river during school time,

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that has got to be a no-brainer. And so that's how I started.

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Then after a couple of months he says, "Do you want to do a race?"

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-And we thought, "Oh, that sounds fun. Going away at a weekend."

-Yep.

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-And so we went and did Avon County School Regatta and we won it.

-Right.

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Was it because you were particularly tall compared to your classmates

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-that he singled you out or was it something about you?

-Yeah.

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He always said that he used to

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look at the size of people's hands and feet

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as they came into the school and if they had big hands and feet,

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he would ask them to row. And that was his theory.

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There was 12 of us that rowed from our school

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and out of those 12, three of us got through to the '88 Olympics,

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and we all came fourth or better.

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-Wow!

-So that's not a bad selection policy.

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-Good talent ID from your school.

-Very much so.

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It's amazing to think that without the eagle eyes of Steve's teacher,

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his Olympic journey, one of the most amazing of all time,

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may never have started.

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Steve was lucky.

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And once he found out that he was the right shape and size for rowing

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there was no stopping him.

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He went on to win gold medals at five Olympics,

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an achievement that might never be bettered.

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But, surely, that can't all be down to big hands and big feet...can it?

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If you have to pin it down to what you need most of,

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desire outweighs any skill level.

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If you don't have the love of doing it in the first place,

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you're never going to put the effort in

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to be able to compete at the highest level.

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TRAIN WHISTLE

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Desire to me means having the right mindset

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and the hunger to push yourself further and further.

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It'll see you through the long days of training and the sheer hard work.

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And when I was growing up, no-one had more desire than Graham Obree.

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He became a huge inspiration to me and countless others.

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Graeme was an unemployed amateur cyclist from Ayrshire

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who built his own bike, famously using bits of a washing machine,

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and rode it in his own unique way

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to win gold medals... and smash world records.

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I would like to say thanks very much

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to everybody who made all that noise on the way round.

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I actually thought it had started to thunder at one point.

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LAUGHTER

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It might be the bike that most people remember, and no wonder.

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This is the first time I've ever ridden one of Graeme's creations.

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Let's just say it'd take some getting used to.

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But it wasn't really the bike that inspired me,

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it was what Graeme did on it that stuck in my mind.

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Aye, you could be good if you stick in, son.

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BOTH LAUGH

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-How's life?

-Life's an amazing thing.

-CHRIS LAUGHS

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I watched that documentary that was made about you and Chris Boardman.

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And it starts at the very beginning with you in your back yard,

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you're on this rusty old knackered static bike.

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Sweat's running off your nose and you're right on the limit.

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You can just see you're pushing yourself...

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Actually, just beyond the limit.

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It's about reaching the envelope of your potential and stretching it.

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If you stretch it enough, a tiny, tiny bit enough times,

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then you become a better...athlete.

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In my career, I always wanted to be the best-prepared.

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I wanted to turn up on race day

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feeling as if there was nothing else I could have done,

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that I'd given 100%. And a lot of that

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came from watching you in the early days,

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because I saw this commitment to the training.

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Here was somebody willing to push themselves to the limit

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every single day. What was your story?

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-Champions are made on Tuesday afternoon.

-Exactly.

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-That's it.

-Actually, I feel now from a distance

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that actually...

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being driven by the fear of regret...

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Like, if you got beaten and you hadn't trained to your very best,

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in your heart you know that, then the rest of your life...

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You might have one chance at glory,

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and if you're not best prepared and you miss that by a fraction

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and you hadn't... you know in your heart

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you hadn't done your very, very, very, very best,

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then you've got to live with that for your life.

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'So the scene is set ready for the final.

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'And it should be a very tight tussle indeed.'

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So I remember watching the final of the pursuit in 1995,

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the World Championships, you're up against Collinelli.

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Collinelli desperately wanted to win the World Championships.

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I needed to for my own self-worth.

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Everything about me, without going into an entire documentary

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about my psychological situation at that time,

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but I actually needed to win that.

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'Who wants this crown the most?

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'Oh, it's only 0.021 of a second now! It is desperately close!'

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This was one of the most exciting races I've ever seen in my life,

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because it was just a battle of wills between two people.

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As you described it in your book,

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about holding your hand in the flame.

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It was like the two of you were holding your hands in the flame

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and whoever pulled away first lost the title.

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He was never going to win that.

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He was the chicken to the fox,

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because I actually needed to win that.

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And that last lap it was...

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"I'd rather die...

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"I'm willing to die than get beaten by Collinelli."

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Which sounds an eccentric thing to say,

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it sounds an extreme mental illness thing to say.

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But if you were an astronaut and you're willing to

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get into a rocket ship that could blow up in space,

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it's perfectly respectable to say,

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"I'm willing to accept I might die to go to the moon."

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Why is it not acceptable to go,

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"I'm actually willing to accept heart failure to beat that Italian"?

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Why is one acceptable and one not?

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Graeme inspired me to push myself beyond my limits.

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It's not as scary as it might sound.

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You measure yourself to discover what they are

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and then...you aim higher.

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How fast can you go?

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How far can you go?

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How much power can you produce?

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Ultimately, what can your time be?

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You enter a world of numbers...

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as you become a competitor.

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And here are some of mine.

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I gave up BMX when I was 14.

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Was Scottish Junior Track Champion at 17.

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Went to my first Olympics and won a silver medal when I was 24.

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And in 2002, I won my first World Championship gold medal, age 26.

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CHEERING

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I won it by one-thousandth of a second,

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the smallest possible margin in a bike race...

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..or 15mm on a race track.

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Today, my numbers are about

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how many of these little lights I can turn out.

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It helps develop the peripheral vision vital for motor racing.

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My mentor is on hand to give me some feedback.

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So what's your best score on this, then?

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-Best score's 114.

-114. So I got 90.

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-So it'll take me a few weeks to get to 100, I think.

-I don't know.

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Your second best score was 81 and that was two minutes ago,

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-so maybe pretty soon you'll be up there!

-Oh, well, we'll see.

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On a bike, I'm used to being one of the guys to beat, but not here.

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In this simulator, I'm still trying to perfect cornering at 100mph.

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It's quite a learning curve.

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TYRES SCREECH

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So it's a little bit tail-happy, then?

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BOTH LAUGH

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With this car, the biggest limiting factor is the rear grip,

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especially the entry to the corners and the exits.

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Of course there's nothing wrong with being bad at something.

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Even this bad.

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-Whoa!

-CHRIS LAUGHS

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What you do is work on your weaknesses.

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Too late.

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CHRIS SIGHS

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-How's the lap times looking?

-Best not to look at them yet.

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-Yeah. Good advice.

-CHRIS LAUGHS

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Failure in sport isn't something to fear -

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it can even be the making of you.

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I learnt the biggest lessons of my career from losing races.

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In 2003 in Stuttgart, just a year after becoming World Champion,

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I lost my title and came fourth.

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I'd allowed myself to get distracted right before the race.

0:19:240:19:28

I was worrying about everything.

0:19:320:19:34

I was thinking, "He went really fast there. That was a fast time.

0:19:340:19:37

"I wonder what gear he was riding?

0:19:370:19:38

"Maybe I should go up or down a gear.

0:19:380:19:40

"Maybe I should attack faster in the first lap and then try and get up."

0:19:400:19:43

You know, all these different ideas and things, crazy things

0:19:430:19:46

are going through your mind seconds before you're racing

0:19:460:19:49

and I allowed myself to be distracted from my game plan.

0:19:490:19:53

I'd gone in as a world champion in two events

0:19:530:19:56

and I came out with just one bronze medal.

0:19:560:19:58

It was the worst World Championships I had through my whole career.

0:19:580:20:02

-MAN:

-Come on!

0:20:040:20:06

So I got back to training... set myself new higher targets.

0:20:080:20:13

'Let us not forget also Chris Hoy...'

0:20:140:20:17

But I knew that it wasn't so much my opponent

0:20:220:20:24

that got the better of me...

0:20:240:20:26

it was my own lack of confidence.

0:20:260:20:28

-Brilliant!

-CHRIS PANTS

0:20:300:20:32

I decided to talk to one of the team's experts about it.

0:20:350:20:39

Someone I'd never thought about visiting before...

0:20:410:20:43

..our very own psychiatrist.

0:20:450:20:47

I think it's important to know

0:20:500:20:52

that when I met Chris he was never what people might think -

0:20:520:20:54

"He must be falling apart at the seams

0:20:540:20:56

"and they've got this psychiatrist to come in and put his head back,"

0:20:560:20:59

that wasn't the case at all.

0:20:590:21:01

You met a very balanced man who had a lot of insight,

0:21:010:21:04

but he was looking to see, "Is there any way I can use my mind

0:21:040:21:07

"to gain that little edge on performance?"

0:21:070:21:09

I tried to make it simple and accessible and said,

0:21:100:21:12

"Look, quite simply there are three systems in your head, like teams.

0:21:120:21:16

"There's a human team which you're in control of,

0:21:160:21:19

"there's a chimp team, which is our innate genetics

0:21:190:21:21

"that gives us our drives and instincts and thinks for us,

0:21:210:21:24

"and then there's a computer system, which is a memory back-up

0:21:240:21:27

"which usually runs our life

0:21:270:21:28

"unless it gets interference from the chimp or human."

0:21:280:21:30

So I give that just as an entertaining model

0:21:300:21:34

to give people a feel for what they can do with their mind,

0:21:340:21:36

and we've got common terms to work with.

0:21:360:21:39

In Steve Peters' model,

0:21:420:21:43

the chimp represents the emotional part of the brain.

0:21:430:21:46

It appears when we're under pressure.

0:21:480:21:52

It can be helpful,

0:21:520:21:54

but it can also be unpredictable and even self-destructive.

0:21:540:21:57

If it takes over,

0:21:580:22:00

it can make us doubt ourselves and sometimes even panic.

0:22:000:22:03

What we need to do is find out why

0:22:050:22:07

and discover what we, the human, can do to stay in charge.

0:22:070:22:11

Steve calls this process of controlling your thoughts

0:22:160:22:19

and staying calm under pressure "caging your chimp".

0:22:190:22:24

Essentially, we trained to prepare for that moment

0:22:270:22:31

when these negative thoughts or anxieties or distractions

0:22:310:22:34

pop into your brain.

0:22:340:22:36

'A full house.'

0:22:410:22:43

COMMENTARY CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY

0:22:430:22:44

STARTER GUN FIRES

0:22:470:22:48

CHEERING

0:22:480:22:50

The pressure in Athens was like

0:22:530:22:54

nothing else I experienced in my whole career.

0:22:540:22:56

Even in London it was a different kind of pressure.

0:22:560:22:59

In Athens...it's a feeling that...

0:22:590:23:01

It's almost like Deal Or No Deal - you've got these two boxes,

0:23:010:23:04

one's a gold medal, in the other there's nothing.

0:23:040:23:07

You know, when I get the train down to London,

0:23:080:23:10

it's the one I sit down and watch on a regular basis.

0:23:100:23:13

And I always put the volume up a little bit,

0:23:130:23:15

so the people on the train can hear it as well,

0:23:150:23:17

because I think it's one of the great sporting moments, you know.

0:23:170:23:20

It was an incredibly hot, balmy night, very still.

0:23:220:23:26

And Chris was last off

0:23:260:23:27

and he had everybody in world-ranking order going off before him.

0:23:270:23:32

STARTER GUN FIRES 'So Kelly...out of the gate'

0:23:320:23:36

Shane Kelly, one of the great kilo riders,

0:23:360:23:38

all of a sudden he comes out and he goes a 1:1

0:23:380:23:40

and they're high-fiving in the pits

0:23:400:23:42

and the crowd's going nuts, you know.

0:23:420:23:44

'Let me tell you that is the fastest time ever at sea level!'

0:23:440:23:49

Nimke steps up

0:23:490:23:51

and breaks the Olympic Record.

0:23:510:23:53

And, you know, the Germans are going absolutely crazy.

0:23:530:23:56

Thinking, "Jesus! this is... This is incredible!"

0:23:560:23:58

'He goes faster than Shane Kelly!

0:23:580:24:01

'They're getting quicker and quicker and quicker!'

0:24:010:24:05

And then the greatest of them all, Tournant, comes up.

0:24:070:24:11

Bang! Does an 0.

0:24:110:24:13

'Oh, I don't believe it!

0:24:130:24:15

'1:00.896!

0:24:150:24:19

'What an unbelievable time!

0:24:190:24:21

'The fastest ever time!'

0:24:210:24:24

And so Chris was there having to go up to the line in the Olympic Final

0:24:260:24:29

and break what had just been set as a new World Record,

0:24:290:24:32

which is a tall order.

0:24:320:24:34

If shits were trumps, he's got a handful.

0:24:360:24:39

He's going to try and do something that's never been done before.

0:24:390:24:42

All the riders had finished, all the times were on the board,

0:24:440:24:47

I was last to go.

0:24:470:24:49

The history is already written,

0:24:490:24:51

it's just whether or not

0:24:510:24:52

you're going to be on that scoreboard or not.

0:24:520:24:54

It was really about not thinking about

0:24:540:24:57

the consequences of winning or losing,

0:24:570:25:00

all I was thinking about was this performance,

0:25:000:25:02

this perfect race that I'd visualised time and time again.

0:25:020:25:05

And using the visualisation, it was blocking out these negative thoughts

0:25:050:25:09

or these anxious thoughts and...

0:25:090:25:12

all I wanted to do was to get on to the bike, on to the start line

0:25:120:25:14

and execute this race.

0:25:140:25:16

STARTER GUN FIRES 'So the World Champion, Chris Hoy,

0:25:160:25:19

'comes out of the gate, and now ahead of him are four laps to prove

0:25:190:25:23

'that he can win the gold medal here in the Olympic Games.

0:25:230:25:27

'Chris Hoy!'

0:25:270:25:29

Psychologically...the pressure that put him under was massive.

0:25:320:25:37

It was immense.

0:25:370:25:39

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:25:390:25:42

0.141! They're going absolutely wild!

0:25:490:25:52

As I crossed the line at the end of the first lap

0:25:540:25:56

this massive roar went up and you don't hear individual voices

0:25:560:25:59

but you hear...you can sense a raise...a rise in the volume.

0:25:590:26:02

And I remember thinking, "That's a good sign, I must be up."

0:26:020:26:05

But then I also had this fleeting thought,

0:26:050:26:08

"That roar might be for something else, just focus. Just go, go, go."

0:26:080:26:10

And that was the last thing I really thought about in that whole race,

0:26:100:26:14

it was just the feel, the flow, just the perfect ride.

0:26:140:26:17

Chris Hoy's coming up to the line! What's he going to stop the clock at?

0:26:190:26:23

Oh! Chris Hoy is the Olympic Champion,

0:26:230:26:27

the Commonwealth Champion,

0:26:270:26:29

the World Champion!

0:26:290:26:31

He's completed the Grand Slam.

0:26:310:26:33

Let me just repeat the time.

0:26:330:26:34

1:00.711!

0:26:340:26:38

It almost felt like it was... another visualisation,

0:26:420:26:44

it was so close to that perfect race I'd visualised.

0:26:440:26:47

But I hadn't visualised what I would do after the finishing line

0:26:470:26:50

and I just rode round in total disbelief.

0:26:500:26:52

And I remember looking at the scoreboard

0:26:520:26:55

and seeing my name and the number 1 and OR for Olympic Record

0:26:550:26:59

and it just didn't sink in that this was me, I was Olympic Champion.

0:26:590:27:04

It had taken me 12 years of graft

0:27:100:27:12

to reach my goal and become an Olympic Champion.

0:27:120:27:15

But my next challenge was to try to stay on top.

0:27:160:27:19

In life, the competition doesn't stand still,

0:27:210:27:23

you've got to keep trying to improve.

0:27:230:27:25

And it helps to keep an open mind,

0:27:270:27:29

to embrace new ideas, even if you're already a world-beater.

0:27:290:27:35

'Two gold medals in one Olympic Games!

0:27:360:27:39

'Rebecca Adlington, you are absolutely brilliant!'

0:27:390:27:43

Wow! This place is pretty old.

0:27:460:27:49

I think this is the first time I've ever walked in a swimming pool.

0:27:520:27:55

-Really?

-I've never seen a pool without water in it.

0:27:550:27:58

-Have you not?

-No!

-Feels more like a velodrome in here.

0:27:580:28:01

-SHE LAUGHS

-Yeah.

0:28:010:28:04

'This looks like it could be... And it is going to be the gold medallist!

0:28:040:28:08

'Oh, my goodness, it is!'

0:28:080:28:11

Becky Adlington swam to glory at the Beijing Olympics

0:28:110:28:14

where she won two gold medals, one by a furlong...

0:28:140:28:18

and the other by a fingertip.

0:28:180:28:20

I was very lucky that I had a really good finish

0:28:220:28:24

and the American girl didn't, so I was like "Thank God,"

0:28:240:28:27

even though I don't think she saw it that way.

0:28:270:28:30

But she just kind of came into the wall

0:28:300:28:32

and it was kind of like how I finished.

0:28:320:28:35

I kind of brought my arm over and just touched the wall there,

0:28:350:28:38

so my fingertips kind of touched the wall

0:28:380:28:41

whereas Katy, the American girl, came in and she just bent her wrist,

0:28:410:28:44

she just kind of went like that before she put her hand on.

0:28:440:28:47

And it was just kind of like

0:28:470:28:48

the smallest difference of me going like that,

0:28:480:28:50

but she just kind of bent her hand

0:28:500:28:52

-and lost her the race.

-That was enough.

-Yeah, it was just like...

0:28:520:28:55

I've heard swimmers can break their fingers. If you're going for that,

0:28:550:28:58

people have broken their fingers, haven't they?

0:28:580:29:01

-I don't care, I'd rather break my hand.

-Exactly. Get a gold medal!

0:29:010:29:04

-Exactly.

-It's worth it.

-It's just the smallest difference.

0:29:040:29:08

It's unbelievable. Every time I watch it back,

0:29:080:29:10

I think, "How did that happen?"

0:29:100:29:12

-It was just good fingernails.

-BOTH LAUGH

0:29:120:29:15

Margins of victory can be so small that every detail counts,

0:29:200:29:24

no matter how tiny.

0:29:240:29:26

So what tiny details did Becky focus on for the next Olympics?

0:29:260:29:30

We focused each season on the one thing that was my weakness.

0:29:330:29:36

So my turns were awful, like,

0:29:360:29:38

you could even do better turns than me, I promise you.

0:29:380:29:41

My turns are awful so it was

0:29:410:29:42

constantly working on them sorts of things,

0:29:420:29:45

things that I kind of needed to improve on.

0:29:450:29:48

Different stuff in the gym. Like one season,

0:29:480:29:50

I'd really work on kind of my power off the wall,

0:29:500:29:53

the next season would be kind of... just kind of rehab,

0:29:530:29:56

working on my shoulders or your core.

0:29:560:29:58

And try and do a bit more sprint emphasis,

0:29:580:30:00

try and do a bit more distance, you adapt things like that.

0:30:000:30:03

I started working with a sports psychologist,

0:30:030:30:06

which for me I couldn't have survived the four years without.

0:30:060:30:09

I didn't kind of realise how important it was.

0:30:090:30:12

Things like nutrition as well, I educated myself on,

0:30:120:30:15

because I only really moved out of home when I was 19 as well,

0:30:150:30:18

so it wasn't till after Beijing that I didn't have my mum and dad

0:30:180:30:22

like looking after me and my mum cooking for me all the time.

0:30:220:30:24

So you just try and do all these tiny little things.

0:30:240:30:27

It's like, yeah, it might be this much there,

0:30:270:30:31

but actually put it all together makes a second or two difference.

0:30:310:30:37

And I did absolutely everything I could.

0:30:370:30:40

I gave it 100%.

0:30:400:30:41

My preparation, everything, even from the smallest things,

0:30:410:30:44

like I didn't have a drop of alcohol for a year,

0:30:440:30:47

not even a little glass of wine.

0:30:470:30:48

Something stupid, but I literally gave it 100%.

0:30:480:30:52

Becky did swim even faster at her second Olympics than at her first,

0:30:580:31:03

but she didn't get gold. She won two bronzes,

0:31:030:31:06

and today is still Britain's most successful ever swimmer.

0:31:060:31:10

In the British Cycling Team,

0:31:170:31:19

we called our tiny improvements "marginal gains".

0:31:190:31:22

And they weren't just about the obvious things.

0:31:220:31:24

Recovery is a massive part of competition and of performance,

0:31:260:31:30

so we used to travel with our own pillows and mattresses.

0:31:300:31:33

We had travel mattresses that were orthopaedic

0:31:330:31:35

that we would put on top of the base of the bed in the hotel,

0:31:350:31:39

so you knew that every night you'd be sleeping in your own bed -

0:31:390:31:42

consistent rest, consistent recovery.

0:31:420:31:45

You know, you can't quantify the difference that made,

0:31:450:31:47

but it was one little detail among many.

0:31:470:31:49

New ideas - we had these heated trousers

0:31:500:31:53

we wore over our cycling gear

0:31:530:31:55

at the end of our warm-up for the half an hour

0:31:550:31:58

between finishing a warm-up and starting the race

0:31:580:32:00

to keep the muscles themselves at the optimum temperature.

0:32:000:32:03

Other teams were looking at us thinking,

0:32:030:32:05

"My God! What have these guys got?!"

0:32:050:32:07

You know, "We haven't got that!"

0:32:070:32:09

And even if you can just distract your opponents

0:32:090:32:12

right before you compete, even if it doesn't actually help you at all,

0:32:120:32:15

it might be making them question themselves.

0:32:150:32:17

-MAN:

-Go with it! Go with it! Go with it! Go with it!

0:32:170:32:21

Out-psyching your opponent is just part of competition.

0:32:230:32:26

It's tactical.

0:32:260:32:28

Almost like a whip! Whip!

0:32:280:32:30

Every sport has its own tactics.

0:32:320:32:34

Even those that look like they might be about pure brawn.

0:32:340:32:37

And often it's the best tactician who becomes the champion.

0:32:370:32:42

You've got two guys almost on the same level and they're boxing,

0:32:420:32:46

oh, man, it's beautiful.

0:32:460:32:48

Like a chess game.

0:32:480:32:50

'Lennox Lewis in black.

0:32:500:32:51

'He has the reach and that presumably will be the tactic.'

0:32:510:32:55

Lennox Lewis is one of the greatest boxers in history.

0:32:560:32:59

He won everything including Olympic gold,

0:32:590:33:02

suffered only two defeats,

0:33:020:33:05

and retired as the last undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

0:33:050:33:09

And he's not bad at chess either.

0:33:090:33:12

When I play chess it's like I zone in to the board

0:33:120:33:16

and it's like, "This is my world, this is the world that I live in."

0:33:160:33:20

And these are my men on this side and this is obviously my opponent.

0:33:200:33:25

And when I make a move it's always like...the first move.

0:33:250:33:30

-BOTH LAUGH

-Just drop that in there.

-That's the first move.

-OK.

0:33:300:33:34

Now, I have to warn you, I was quite a mean chess player

0:33:340:33:37

when I was a kid. I used to play a little bit. The only trouble is,

0:33:370:33:40

I haven't played since I was about maybe ten years of age.

0:33:400:33:42

Oh, man, I'm going to feel bad if you beat me.

0:33:420:33:45

-Right.

-Ah-ha.

0:33:450:33:47

Now, I'm going to struggle to really think

0:33:470:33:49

and ask you questions and play chess well,

0:33:490:33:51

so if I lose it's only because of that, it's not because...

0:33:510:33:54

Well, if we're playing by time,

0:33:540:33:55

then you've got to touch your clock after you move.

0:33:550:33:57

-Sorry, what do I do, hit this?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-All right.

0:33:570:34:00

-In chess, I attack.

-OK.

-I don't attack if you're good.

-OK.

0:34:000:34:05

BOTH LAUGH

0:34:050:34:06

Thanks. OK. That's how we're playing it. Right, OK. Erm...

0:34:060:34:11

-I'll just do that.

-Wow! You're cautious.

0:34:110:34:14

I like cautious people, you know what I mean?

0:34:140:34:16

Well, I'm sitting in front of an undisputed

0:34:160:34:18

heavyweight champion of the world who knows a bit about chess,

0:34:180:34:22

I'm not going to go on the front foot, am I?

0:34:220:34:24

Well, you know,

0:34:240:34:26

-I have to bring out my horses on you.

-OK.

0:34:260:34:29

-Sorry, did I...?

-No, you didn't.

0:34:290:34:32

You didn't get into chess until you were already...

0:34:320:34:34

You'd established yourself as a boxer?

0:34:340:34:36

Yeah, when I started going to training camp

0:34:360:34:39

and it's long hours and you have nothing to do.

0:34:390:34:42

You can't party and it's really just a group of fellas around,

0:34:420:34:45

so you have to keep yourself occupied

0:34:450:34:47

and chess was one of the things that I loved to do

0:34:470:34:50

because it kept me focused.

0:34:500:34:51

And...it was like, you know,

0:34:510:34:53

you're thinking in the ring, you're thinking on the board.

0:34:530:34:56

And you were known for your approach to the game

0:34:560:34:59

in terms of thinking about your opponent.

0:34:590:35:02

-Yeah.

-Analysing your opponent,

0:35:020:35:03

it wasn't just all about the brawn and attacking all the time.

0:35:030:35:06

Yeah, I mean, you know, everybody's strong

0:35:060:35:10

and everybody wants to knock everybody out.

0:35:100:35:12

But, you know, sometimes it doesn't really go that way,

0:35:120:35:15

so you have to have an alternate plan.

0:35:150:35:18

And there's different ways to wage war on different people.

0:35:180:35:21

You just have to analyse 'em

0:35:210:35:23

and say, "OK, this person can't take body shots,

0:35:230:35:25

"so, you know, I'm going to work my punches and end up on the body.

0:35:250:35:29

"Beat up his body and then his hands are falling

0:35:290:35:31

"and then his chin would be open, then I'll have him."

0:35:310:35:34

So I'm breaking him down from head to toe,

0:35:340:35:37

that's part of my strategy sometimes in different fights.

0:35:370:35:41

OK. Right, well, I'm going to try and focus on this for a second here.

0:35:410:35:44

You brought your knight out. I think I might...

0:35:440:35:48

CHRIS SIGHS

0:35:480:35:50

..just move that forward there, which is possibly a stupid move.

0:35:510:35:57

-All right.

-OK.

-So when I take this now...

-Yep.

0:35:570:36:00

And you take that, I'm going to take your queen.

0:36:000:36:03

-Ah, you see. You see.

-LENNOX LAUGHS

0:36:060:36:09

You know, you can tell a lot of about somebody that plays chess.

0:36:100:36:13

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Like what?

0:36:130:36:16

-How they play.

-You can tell about the person, I see, right.

-Yeah.

0:36:160:36:19

-CHRIS LAUGHS

-So what can you tell about me?

0:36:210:36:24

Erm...

0:36:240:36:27

court's still out.

0:36:270:36:29

BOTH LAUGH

0:36:290:36:32

Did you ever feel that you came to a fight,

0:36:320:36:34

you weren't maybe exactly where you wanted to be physically,

0:36:340:36:37

but you knew that tactically you had the beating of the guy,

0:36:370:36:39

or that you were going to bluff your way through it?

0:36:390:36:42

-I mean, obviously, you can't completely bluff it.

-Yeah.

0:36:420:36:44

It's interesting that you say that, because look at Muhammad Ali -

0:36:440:36:48

he developed the rope-a-dope because he was getting old

0:36:480:36:51

and didn't want to move around, dance around as much.

0:36:510:36:53

And he decided to take punches and watch what the guy was doing

0:36:530:36:57

and then at the precise moment take...take the person out.

0:36:570:37:00

My adjusting is probably, you know, doing a little more holding,

0:37:000:37:06

being more closer to the man, so, you know,

0:37:060:37:09

I don't have to use that much energy

0:37:090:37:11

and allowing him to use up his energy more.

0:37:110:37:14

So you become like a wise fox in the sport.

0:37:140:37:17

Right.

0:37:170:37:19

-CHRIS PUNCHES HIS CLOCK

-There we go.

0:37:190:37:22

You're smiling. I don't know if... That's probably not a good thing.

0:37:220:37:25

It is, because I'm going to win.

0:37:250:37:27

Yeah, I mean not good for me.

0:37:270:37:28

LENNOX LAUGHS

0:37:280:37:30

Oh, here we go.

0:37:300:37:32

Check.

0:37:320:37:34

CHRIS LAUGHS

0:37:400:37:41

Yeah, the end is coming close, I reckon.

0:37:410:37:45

It's not looking good.

0:37:450:37:46

Check.

0:37:460:37:48

I'm not a good loser, by the way.

0:37:500:37:52

LENNOX LAUGHS

0:37:520:37:54

-That's...That's it.

-That's it. It's all over.

0:37:540:37:57

-Thank you.

-Thanks for the game.

-Yeah.

-Well done.

0:37:570:38:01

-And I'll tell you what kind of player you are.

-Yep.

0:38:010:38:03

-Still learning.

-BOTH LAUGH

0:38:050:38:07

-Thanks, mate.

-All right. Thanks.

-Pleasure.

0:38:070:38:09

It's never too late to learn the tactics of your sport,

0:38:170:38:20

as I found out when I approached my third Olympics.

0:38:200:38:25

I hadn't really needed tactics for the 1km Time Trial,

0:38:270:38:31

but the event was removed from the 2008 games.

0:38:310:38:35

So I had to adapt.

0:38:360:38:38

I became what's known as a match sprinter.

0:38:380:38:41

First person across the line wins,

0:38:420:38:45

but you don't just go hell for leather from the start -

0:38:450:38:48

it's as much about outsmarting your opponent as outsprinting them.

0:38:480:38:52

I had to become...aware of my... What was happening around me.

0:38:550:38:58

I wasn't just having a one-dimensional

0:38:580:39:00

race against the clock, there was a rival,

0:39:000:39:02

there was a competitor on the track with me.

0:39:020:39:04

I had to react to them, I had to make decisions

0:39:040:39:06

based on where they were and what their strategy was in the race.

0:39:060:39:10

If you let someone else make the first move,

0:39:110:39:13

then you're on the back foot.

0:39:130:39:15

So I just tried to use my strengths,

0:39:150:39:17

which at that time was just my pace, my speed.

0:39:170:39:20

You know, I was very fast compared to most of the guys there.

0:39:200:39:24

'Off the banking and into the finishing straight now.

0:39:250:39:27

'Can Kenny hold off Hoy? Oh, he's got it!

0:39:270:39:30

'He cruises to the line and punches the air with delight.

0:39:300:39:34

'Gold medal number four!

0:39:340:39:36

'Chris Hoy is the Olympic gold medallist,

0:39:360:39:40

'the Olympic Sprint Champion!

0:39:400:39:42

'He's won three here and in three different races.

0:39:420:39:45

'This man is unstoppable!'

0:39:450:39:49

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2008 is...

0:39:550:39:59

Chris Hoy.

0:39:590:40:00

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:40:000:40:02

We all cope with failure, failures are easy.

0:40:180:40:20

You know, we just get down there, down the stairs into the gym,

0:40:200:40:23

back up here, on the track, and we train.

0:40:230:40:26

Anyone can deal with failure.

0:40:260:40:27

Success is a totally different animal,

0:40:270:40:30

and I don't think unless you're in their shoes, or in their camp,

0:40:300:40:33

that you can understand what they're going through.

0:40:330:40:36

Well, thank you very much for that long applause,

0:40:400:40:42

it's given me a bit of time to think of something to say.

0:40:420:40:45

Cos I really wasn't expecting this, this is just such a shock.

0:40:450:40:50

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:40:500:40:51

'The whole period after Beijing came as quite a shock for me.'

0:40:540:40:59

Nice to meet you. What's your name?

0:40:590:41:01

-Oliver.

-Nice to meet you, Oliver.

0:41:010:41:03

-What's your name?

-Owen.

-Owen.

0:41:030:41:05

-O-W-E-N?

-Yeah.

0:41:050:41:07

'Today I'm more used to it,

0:41:070:41:09

'but becoming a household name wasn't something I'd prepared for.'

0:41:090:41:13

I don't think we ever dreamt that I was going to get to the stage

0:41:140:41:17

I'm at now, not just the success and the medals

0:41:170:41:20

but the number of people interested in cycling...

0:41:200:41:23

'Sporting success can bring its own pressures.

0:41:230:41:26

'It brings distractions by the bucketload.

0:41:260:41:28

'It also brings expectation.'

0:41:280:41:31

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:41:310:41:33

COMMENTATOR: It's a golden triumph for Andy Murray.

0:41:330:41:37

He finished off like the champion that he is.

0:41:390:41:42

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:41:420:41:44

-How are you doing?

-Good to see you.

0:41:440:41:47

Hello, how you doing?

0:41:470:41:48

'Andy Murray probably knows that

0:41:480:41:50

'better than any sporting champion in Britain.'

0:41:500:41:53

Excellent, thank you, Andy.

0:41:540:41:55

'From a very early age, he single-handedly

0:41:550:41:58

'carried Britain's hopes on his shoulders in his sport.'

0:41:580:42:01

'And still does.'

0:42:030:42:05

What's it been like growing up in such a high profile sport

0:42:080:42:11

and, obviously, a high profile event like Wimbledon

0:42:110:42:13

when there's been no British winner for so many years?

0:42:130:42:16

You know, you had to deal with that from age 18, 19,

0:42:160:42:18

the whole way through your career. How did you deal with that?

0:42:180:42:22

Yeah, I...I found it difficult for, for a few years

0:42:220:42:26

because that first year, when I played Wimbledon,

0:42:260:42:28

I was ranked like 350 in the world

0:42:280:42:31

and I'd been playing in front of like ten people,

0:42:310:42:34

before that, you know,

0:42:340:42:35

when I was playing matches there was no-one there,

0:42:350:42:37

and then I was, all of a sudden,

0:42:370:42:39

playing on the Centre Court at Wimbledon with 15,000 people

0:42:390:42:42

and there was photographers... I was 18 at the time

0:42:420:42:45

and there was photographers following me,

0:42:450:42:47

you know, back to my house,

0:42:470:42:48

and camera crews waiting outside to see me going into Wimbledon

0:42:480:42:52

and everything, and it was all very new.

0:42:520:42:55

When people started talking about, you know, my personality

0:42:550:42:59

and, you know, what I was like as, as a person,

0:42:590:43:03

I started to find that very difficult and became, you know,

0:43:030:43:06

quite defensive and I went into my shell a little bit.

0:43:060:43:10

That didn't, that didn't really help me,

0:43:100:43:13

but I've always found on the court it's what I know,

0:43:130:43:16

so it doesn't matter how many people are watching -

0:43:160:43:18

when I get on a tennis court I normally feel quite comfortable.

0:43:180:43:21

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:43:210:43:23

And what was it that kept pushing you on?

0:43:260:43:29

Yeah, I actually, one of the things I always liked from a young age

0:43:290:43:32

was proving people wrong.

0:43:320:43:34

I always quite liked it when someone said,

0:43:350:43:39

"He's not very good," or, "He can't do that."

0:43:390:43:41

After the first couple of times,

0:43:460:43:48

the press maybe starting to say "Is it ever going to happen?"

0:43:480:43:50

Did you ever feel that maybe this, it wasn't going to happen,

0:43:500:43:53

you weren't going to win your first Slam,

0:43:530:43:55

you weren't going to become Wimbledon Champion?

0:43:550:43:57

Yeah, it was something that actually when I came to terms with,

0:43:570:44:01

it actually helped me a lot because it almost became an obsession

0:44:010:44:05

that I was, I was so desperate to do it.

0:44:050:44:08

I was working so hard and maybe wanted to do it too much,

0:44:080:44:11

and it was after I lost in the Wimbledon final in 2012, you know,

0:44:110:44:18

I was very upset afterwards

0:44:180:44:19

and, you know, I remember sort of thinking and saying to myself, like,

0:44:190:44:22

"Maybe it's just not meant to be."

0:44:220:44:23

How did it feel when it started to get to the stage

0:44:250:44:27

that the expectation was getting higher and higher, every year?

0:44:270:44:31

How do you manage to block it out

0:44:310:44:33

and focus on what you're trying to do?

0:44:330:44:35

Yeah, it's, it's hard, I mean experience helps with that,

0:44:350:44:38

when you go through those experiences of playing, you know,

0:44:380:44:41

semifinals or finals of Wimbledon, that, that helps.

0:44:410:44:44

You know, there was times where the closer you would get to the match

0:44:440:44:48

the less I wanted to go on the court.

0:44:480:44:50

You know, it wasn't something I was looking forward to.

0:44:500:44:52

I was getting more and more nervous the closer the match came

0:44:520:44:56

and when I started working with Ivan Lendl he helped me a lot with

0:44:560:45:00

those matches and how to approach them and, you know, I was playing

0:45:000:45:04

a lot like I had something to lose, but when I started working with him

0:45:040:45:07

I was really, you know, going after the matches and playing to win

0:45:070:45:11

and winning or losing the matches on my terms,

0:45:110:45:14

and that made a big difference,

0:45:140:45:15

going into matches with a different mentality.

0:45:150:45:18

COMMENTATOR: Game, set and match, Murray.

0:45:210:45:23

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:45:230:45:25

-COMMENTATOR:

-The waiting is over

0:45:250:45:27

and you simply cannot give more.

0:45:270:45:29

'Andy became the first British man to win Wimbledon in 77 years.

0:45:370:45:42

'He wrote his name into the history books.

0:45:440:45:48

'And which athlete wouldn't want that?'

0:45:480:45:50

'As I approached the London Olympics,

0:45:530:45:55

'expectation was everywhere.'

0:45:550:45:57

'But I wasn't even sure of making the team.'

0:45:590:46:03

We had this new kid on the block who threatened

0:46:100:46:13

the supremacy of Sir Chris, which was Jason, Jason Kenny.

0:46:130:46:18

All of a sudden, you know, you've got a pretty big squad

0:46:180:46:20

and Sir Chris not looking real good, and I actually got to a point

0:46:200:46:23

where I thought, "You know what? He's not going to make this."

0:46:230:46:27

Our job is to look at the data, look at the numbers,

0:46:290:46:33

as objectively as possible

0:46:330:46:36

and choose which rider is going to get the most success

0:46:360:46:39

for the, the British team.

0:46:390:46:40

Our business is about looking forward

0:46:420:46:44

and looking at who's going to win the next event,

0:46:440:46:47

not who's won the past one.

0:46:470:46:49

That didn't mean that that was going to be the end of Sir Chris,

0:46:490:46:53

but all of a sudden, you start to question his desire.

0:46:530:46:56

So I went out to the side of the track

0:46:560:46:59

and I said, "Now listen, trust me on this, you don't need this.

0:46:590:47:02

"You've got enough money for the rest of your life,

0:47:020:47:05

"you can go and open supermarkets, go to talks, make bikes,

0:47:050:47:07

"do whatever you want for the rest of your life.

0:47:070:47:10

"But when you cross the black line, you've got to want it."

0:47:100:47:12

I said, "Right, we need to change things, we need to stop Twitter.

0:47:120:47:17

"We need to disengage with all social media, you need to stop that

0:47:170:47:21

"because it, basically, it's governing your life,

0:47:210:47:24

"you're getting to bed late, you're not going to bed on time."

0:47:240:47:27

So we looked at, you know, his sleep pattern, you know, we give him

0:47:270:47:30

a right bollocking, you know, "You need to get into bed earlier."

0:47:300:47:33

His lifestyle wasn't befitting that of one

0:47:330:47:36

that won three medals in Beijing

0:47:360:47:38

and I felt we were going to come up short.

0:47:380:47:40

So, then, it was kick-arse time.

0:47:400:47:44

Five, four, three,

0:47:440:47:47

two, one, go.

0:47:470:47:49

Come on, Chris.

0:47:490:47:51

'With just one rider allowed per nation,

0:47:510:47:53

'the selection process was intense.

0:47:530:47:55

'The only way to prove I was still good enough

0:47:550:47:58

'was to make the numbers, and hit my race targets.'

0:47:580:48:02

Three, two, one, go!

0:48:020:48:04

Up, up, up. Go, Chris.

0:48:040:48:06

'Coming back to this lab brings back a lot of memories,

0:48:060:48:09

'and this was just one of the tests we use to monitor our progress.'

0:48:090:48:13

Five, four, three, two, one.

0:48:130:48:17

Go up. Come on, Chris.

0:48:170:48:19

This is always the bit you look forward to, or you dread.

0:48:320:48:35

What's the numbers, what's the numbers?

0:48:350:48:37

400 or 500, has to be the target, surely.

0:48:380:48:41

-Oh, you're in the 500, easy.

-Yeah?

0:48:410:48:43

-Your all-time PB was 696...

-Mm-hm.

0:48:430:48:47

So you've got 586.

0:48:470:48:49

606.

0:48:500:48:52

Yes, there we go.

0:48:520:48:53

529.

0:48:530:48:55

It's all about the 606.

0:48:550:48:57

And 603.

0:48:570:48:58

60...ah, well, it was right leg, er, left leg.

0:48:580:49:00

-Left leg, yeah, take that.

-600s in there,

0:49:000:49:03

Lovely when it hits 600 the first time, and it was a big deal.

0:49:030:49:06

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Yeah.

0:49:060:49:08

I'm making a comeback.

0:49:080:49:09

Anything more than one rev, though, you might be in...

0:49:090:49:12

-Yeah, the first two revs...

-If you get off the start line all right.

0:49:120:49:15

'I think the last four years of my career were, without doubt,

0:49:190:49:22

'the toughest because physically, whether you like it or not,

0:49:220:49:25

'you are starting this slight decline.

0:49:250:49:27

'You're doing everything you possibly can to fight it.'

0:49:270:49:30

You become smarter with how you race and you become much more aware

0:49:300:49:34

of recovery and just everything you're doing to keep yourself

0:49:340:49:37

healthy and fit and ready, but it's, you know, compared to

0:49:370:49:40

when you're 21, 22, the recovery part is much, much harder.

0:49:400:49:44

And, you know, they were tough times,

0:49:440:49:46

the four years between Beijing and London, it wasn't easy.

0:49:460:49:49

I don't think I've ever really got over London,

0:49:540:49:57

and I don't think I've ever really come to terms with what happened,

0:49:570:50:00

because I think I personally was so stressed by the whole thing

0:50:000:50:04

that by the time we got there I just really wanted it to be over.

0:50:040:50:07

He desperately, desperately wanted to do it and I felt that pressure

0:50:100:50:14

because I felt that I knew he could do it,

0:50:140:50:17

and when you know somebody wants something so much

0:50:170:50:20

and that it's possible, subject to a few variables,

0:50:200:50:24

that's where the pressure came in to try and help him avoid injuries,

0:50:240:50:31

from getting sick, from getting unwell,

0:50:310:50:34

to help him even make the team, and to make all of that come true.

0:50:340:50:38

To see him come home having put so much effort into the,

0:50:400:50:44

the training sessions that would leave him

0:50:440:50:46

just absolutely physically exhausted and fatigued and in pain...

0:50:460:50:51

He told me that he'd been doing some training session

0:50:530:50:56

and had worked so hard and had pushed himself to such a limit

0:50:560:51:00

that he thought his heart was going to burst.

0:51:000:51:03

You know, that's difficult for a wife to hear.

0:51:030:51:06

Three months before the Games I would drive to work in tears

0:51:060:51:09

and I would drive home from work in tears

0:51:090:51:12

and then I would compose myself and go inside the house

0:51:120:51:15

and that was purely, I think, looking back, that was how I let off steam

0:51:150:51:19

and coped with the, with the stress of it so that I would never,

0:51:190:51:23

I would never let that on to Chris that I was feeling it as well.

0:51:230:51:27

I never told him that.

0:51:270:51:28

Cyclists are famous for not spending any time on their feet

0:51:320:51:36

if they don't have to, and that's kind of how I try to help him.

0:51:360:51:40

I would do anything that I thought might save his legs,

0:51:400:51:44

even for that one second, if it's all about marginal gains

0:51:440:51:48

then I began to think, "OK, I'm going to help him at home with that."

0:51:480:51:52

So he didn't have to think about food preparation, cooking, cleaning,

0:51:520:51:56

bills, paperwork, anything in the house.

0:51:560:51:59

Basically he could just come home, nurse his aches and pains,

0:51:590:52:03

but wouldn't be using any extra energy to do all -

0:52:030:52:07

all of those other things that I could help him with.

0:52:070:52:10

Thanks to Sarra and the rest of the support around me,

0:52:240:52:28

I hit my targets for two out of the three events,

0:52:280:52:32

and made the team for London.

0:52:320:52:34

The home games,

0:52:350:52:37

and for me at 36,

0:52:370:52:39

my final Olympics.

0:52:390:52:41

COMMENTARY: '..gold medal for Great Britain!

0:52:460:52:48

'A new world record.

0:52:480:52:50

'I don't believe what I'm seeing here.'

0:52:500:52:53

CHEERING

0:52:530:52:55

In the first event, the team sprint, we won gold.

0:52:550:52:59

It was my fifth,

0:52:590:53:01

equal to Sir Steve Redgrave.

0:53:010:53:03

And then I had one more race to go.

0:53:080:53:11

The chance to achieve something that no other British athlete

0:53:130:53:16

had ever done before.

0:53:160:53:17

A sixth Olympic gold.

0:53:190:53:21

STARTING GUN

0:53:210:53:23

COMMENTARY: '..the greatest British Olympian of all time.'

0:53:230:53:26

What I'd tried to do was focus on the process,

0:53:270:53:29

and that's what Steve Peters always talks about -

0:53:290:53:32

focus on the process, not the outcome.

0:53:320:53:34

You know, deal with the things that you have control over,

0:53:340:53:37

and don't worry about your rivals

0:53:370:53:39

or worry about anything else. Just do what you can

0:53:390:53:41

to be the best you can be and if you win, you win.

0:53:410:53:43

If you don't, you shake the other guy's hand.

0:53:430:53:45

COMMENTARY: 'Right, away we go. It's eight laps of the track.

0:53:480:53:50

'Now then, can Sir Chris Hoy, Braveheart himself,

0:53:500:53:53

'seal this gold medal?'

0:53:530:53:55

The beauty of the event, really, is that it's very unpredictable.

0:53:560:53:59

That's why the crowd love it - because anybody can win.

0:53:590:54:02

Six guys on the track,

0:54:020:54:03

and they're paced up to speed by the motorbike.

0:54:030:54:05

With two and a half laps to go, the bike peels off

0:54:050:54:07

and that's the start of the race.

0:54:070:54:10

'Chris Hoy coming up on the outside

0:54:100:54:12

'and the crowd is going to get behind the riders.'

0:54:120:54:15

CROWD ROARS

0:54:150:54:16

Really, all I was thinking about was the strategy

0:54:160:54:18

and the strategy was to get to the front,

0:54:180:54:20

to stay out of trouble,

0:54:200:54:21

but the effort required to get to the front,

0:54:210:54:23

it means that if you put in too much early on

0:54:230:54:25

then you could fade at the end, so I had to put a big old surge in.

0:54:250:54:29

'Two laps to go and Sir Chris Hoy has already ignited the burners.'

0:54:290:54:33

I pretty much had my head down

0:54:370:54:39

and when your head's down, you never want to look round

0:54:390:54:42

over your shoulder, because if you do that,

0:54:420:54:44

it kind of breaks your position, your aerodynamic position,

0:54:440:54:46

so I was looking down between my legs and you can see

0:54:460:54:49

if there's any wheels coming up on either side.

0:54:490:54:51

'Hoy hits the line with one lap to go

0:54:510:54:53

'and the challenge is coming here from Levy of Germany.'

0:54:530:54:56

He was actually about half a wheel ahead

0:54:580:55:00

and he had a clear half bike length,

0:55:000:55:02

which, if it became a full bike length,

0:55:020:55:04

he would then be able to close down and get in front of me

0:55:040:55:07

and my race would have been over,

0:55:070:55:09

so I knew that no matter what happened,

0:55:090:55:11

I had to make sure that back wheel

0:55:110:55:12

didn't get in front of my front wheel.

0:55:120:55:14

It's all those thousands of hours of brutal training,

0:55:170:55:19

the highs, the lows - I'm not going to let it count for nothing,

0:55:190:55:23

I have to make it stick here.

0:55:230:55:25

'Shoulder to shoulder.

0:55:250:55:26

'Shoulder to shoulder now as they come off the crown of the bend.'

0:55:260:55:30

As it goes from Levy being, you know,

0:55:300:55:32

almost a bike length ahead,

0:55:320:55:34

to just this acceleration,

0:55:340:55:36

this just drive that I seemed to get

0:55:360:55:39

and I just went like that, level,

0:55:390:55:41

and as soon as I was level, I had the inside line,

0:55:410:55:43

I knew that I had it

0:55:430:55:44

and I came through the inside here,

0:55:440:55:46

and it was almost like a, you know, from there to there.

0:55:460:55:50

'And now they're lining up for the lunge to the line.

0:55:500:55:52

'Who's going to get it?'

0:55:520:55:53

Lunge for the line to be sure.

0:55:530:55:56

Yeah. What a noise.

0:55:560:55:57

'Chris Hoy gets the gold medal

0:55:570:56:01

'here in the keirin! That's his sixth gold medal.

0:56:010:56:04

'He becomes the greatest achiever ever,

0:56:040:56:07

'the greatest British Olympian.

0:56:070:56:09

'His tally - six golds and one silver.

0:56:090:56:13

'Sir Chris Hoy is the Olympic champion for the keirin.'

0:56:130:56:19

CROWD ROAR

0:56:190:56:21

It is weird being back here, because I thought I might come back in

0:56:290:56:32

and get all the kind of emotions and the goose bumps and everything.

0:56:320:56:35

It just feels like an empty velodrome.

0:56:350:56:37

Quite a sort of eerie, empty,

0:56:380:56:41

almost a sort of, like, you know...

0:56:410:56:43

You can see the ghosts of the events that have taken place before.

0:56:430:56:46

Yeah, you come in here and you realise it's gone,

0:56:460:56:49

that was it, it was that moment in time,

0:56:490:56:51

that little snapshot, and as long as you can make the most

0:56:510:56:53

of these opportunities in your life...

0:56:530:56:55

I think that's what I've tried to do in my career -

0:56:550:56:57

recognise when it was time to step up and be counted,

0:56:570:57:02

stand up and be counted,

0:57:020:57:03

and if you can do that under pressure,

0:57:030:57:05

then it's a hell of a feeling.

0:57:050:57:06

CROWD CHEER

0:57:070:57:10

So, there it is.

0:57:200:57:22

Sometimes I can't quite believe myself that it happened.

0:57:240:57:28

But this didn't just happen.

0:57:310:57:33

We made it happen.

0:57:330:57:35

The team,

0:57:370:57:39

the family,

0:57:390:57:41

through sacrifice and support,

0:57:410:57:44

hard work, and a million tiny improvements.

0:57:440:57:47

Don't get me wrong, the medals are great,

0:57:500:57:54

but I know that we did our very, very, very best.

0:57:540:57:58

And that's really what it's all about.

0:58:020:58:04

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