UK Olympic cycling hero Chris Hoy reveals terminal cancer diagnosis

LONDON — Chris Hoy, who won six gold medals while competing for Great Britain at four Olympic Games, has revealed that he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.

Hoy, 48, made the announcement in an interview with Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper that precedes the publication of his memoir next month. The retired track cyclist had previously said he was undergoing cancer treatment without discussing details of his diagnosis.

Hoy’s cancer was detected in September 2023 when he sought treatment for what he thought was a strained shoulder, the Sunday Times reported. Scans revealed he had prostate cancer that had spread to his shoulder, hip, pelvis, spine and ribs.

Doctors told Hoy that his cancer was incurable and would likely take his life within two to four years, the newspaper reported.

“And just like that, I learn how I will die,” Hoy writes in his memoir, titled “All That Matters: My Toughest Race Yet.”

Hoy is one of Britain’s most celebrated athletes after winning 11 world championship gold medals and six Olympic golds in a cycling career that spanned more than a decade.

Hoy’s Olympic career began at the 2000 Games in Sydney, where he won a silver in the team sprint. He went on to win gold in the 1,000-meter time trial at Athens in 2004, gold in the team sprint, sprint and keirin at Beijing 2008 and two more golds in the team sprint and keirin in front of a home crowd at the 2012 Olympics in London.