Sir Chris Hoy praises his mother at honours ceremony

OLYMPIC champion Sir Chris Hoy was knighted today and praised his mother, who also received an honour for an outstanding career in nursing.

Edinburgh-born Sir Chris, 33, won gold in the team sprint, men's sprint and the Keirin in Beijing, making him the first Briton to win three golds at one Olympics in 100 years.

But overall he is a four-time Olympic champion, having also won gold in the one kilometre time trial at Athens in 2004.

His mother, Carol Hoy, a retired 61-year-old nurse, is recognised as one of Britain's top nurses dealing with sleep-related illnesses and received at MBE for a career spanning more than 28 years.

Sir Chris said: "Being knighted is the furthest thing on your mind when you compete at something like the Olympics.

"You train for your whole life and all of your sporting career to try and win gold medals and become the best at what you do."

He added: "If you're fortunate enough to do that an accolade like this is completely unexpected and such an amazing honour when it does come along."

The cyclist went on to praise his mother and said: "I heard about her MBE before I heard about my knighthood and I was so delighted.

"It's just such an amazing thing to happen to her because she's worked so hard all her life.

"There are so many people like my mum who normally don't get recognised. It's people like her who dedicate their lives to their work and it's great this is acknowledged."

Sir Chris is back training after injuring his hips in a 40mph bike crash earlier this year.

He admitted he is a little saddle rusty but still looks back with pride at his achievements at last year's Olympics.

He said: "In Beijing it was a matter of focussing on the short-term – only concentrating on the next race and nothing beyond.

"You keep doing what you've done day in and day out throughout your career and I didn't think of the magnitude of winning a gold medal or two or even three.

"For the third ride I wasn't thinking of the possible implications of winning, I was just focussed on the race."

The knighthood caps an amazing year for the cyclist who has received a number of accolades for his achievements on the track, including being named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, last December.

He also won two titles at the 2008 World Championships in Manchester.

Mrs Hoy would have missed seeing her son knighted by Prince Charles as she was waiting in another part of the palace to be called to receive her award but royal officials allowed her to watch the ceremony and have a few private words with the Olympic champion.

Speaking after receiving the MBE, Mrs Hoy said: "It's a huge honour. So many nurses do fantastic things, so to get picked out was very, very special.

"And then when we heard Chris was going to be knighted, that really blew our socks off.

"To be together at the Palace, for a mum that means everything to me."

The retired nurse played an important role in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's sleep research department.

Early in her career she became the youngest sister at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary but later, at a post with the Edinburgh hospital, she was a ward manager running a national referral service for around 6,000 patients.

She said: "Chris doesn't get his sporting prowess from me but I did buy him his first bike at a church hall so it's all my fault.

"As parents, we were just very supportive of him, like most other mums and dads, but we were just lucky our son ended up as an Olympic champion."