Chris Hoy Quotations

I listen to a variety of stuff on my iPod: Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Public Enemy, Foo Fighters, anything that gets my adrenalin flowing.

I worked closely with Steve Peters, the British Cycling team's psychologist, and we came up with a strategy of dealing with the pressure. It basically involved displacing the negative thoughts with visualisation. Not a complicated technique, but very effective if done properly. I just kept running through the race in my head over and over so that I wouldn't let the distractions around me put me off.

I don't tend to listen to music in training, except maybe the radio in the gym. I do use music prior to racing though; it helps to fire me up plus it's good for blocking out the distractions around me.

Even when you feel as though everything is 100% it can still go wrong on the night (like in Melbourne!) so you never know for sure that you're going to do the performance you expect.

The support is absolutely crucial. If you have the right people helping you in the lead up to a major event, then you know when you're lining up to start the race you have them there with you, willing you on. And I'm not only referring to the coaches, mechanics, physios, administrators, but also family and friends.

Training can be monotonous, and it is hard work, but you never lose sight of why you are doing it. Every single effort of every single session counts in the months and years leading up to a big event.

We're expecting to go home with some medals.

I went really hard, I didn't feel so much pressure.

This will all eventually have to be dealt with and confronted. It will take people a long time to accept that we are at the limits of growth.

Two different nights, two different events. You can never make up for things, but tonight was special. You have the lows, and it puts everything in perspective, but if you win all the time it begins to get boring . . .