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Chris Hoy

Feeling less like a freak in the village


Nihao from the athletes' village in Beijing.

I've just come back from the velodrome, and I've now only got three training sessions left until my racing begins. We're that close.

I'm settled into my room, I'm feeling relaxed and I've even got my coffee machine working. Excellent.

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The British squad here has done well. We're spread over two five-storey blocks right in the middle, not too far from the dining rooms and laundry, and we've also done well with the rooms themselves.

B&Q have kitted us out with a load of extra stuff - sofas, fridges, rugs, DVD players - so it feels more like we're staying in a hotel than the basic student accommodation that everyone else has.

While physically it's probably the nicest athletes' village I've stayed in, my only complaint would be the food.

It's quite disappointing to be honest. There's not that much choice, and there's certainly a shortage of fresh fruit and veg, which as you can imagine is a bit of a problem when you're dealing with thousands of athletes.

What's quite amusing is seeing the range of body types you get in here. Every possible shape and size is represented - tall, skinny basketball players, tiny squat weightlifters and everything in between.

I quite like it. It makes you feel less of a freak yourself. And it also means we can sit there at dinner trying to work out what sport various people do.

Life's quite simple for us cyclists at this stage of proceedings.

Training-wise I have one day on and one day off. The rest of the time it's feet up, resting as much as possible.

There's no chance of sightseeing, of getting down to the Forbidden City or Summer Palace, or even any over-competitive games of table-tennis against athletes from other countries.

And we didn't make the opening ceremony. In some ways that's a shame - it's the symbolic start of the Games, and you get a big kick out of it if you can make it.

But it simply involves too much standing around in the heat. It's not just the two hours after you've walked into the stadium either.

So many athletes go from the village that you have to queue to get on a bus, sit in traffic with hundreds of other buses and then stand around in an enormous waiting-area before you finally file into the stadium.

By the time you get hope you'll have been on your feet for six or seven hours, and that's no good to us this close to competition.

As for my Mandarin - well, you've heard almost all of it already.

Vicky Pendleton's the linguist in the team. You should hear her talking to the volunteers and officials - she's a natural...

Chris Hoy was talking to BBC Sport's Tom Fordyce

Chris Hoy is a British track cyclist aiming for his second Olympic gold in Beijing. Our FAQs should answer any questions you have.


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  • 1. At 09:16am on 09 Aug 2008, Happy_Scrapper wrote:

    Glad to hear you are settling in well and occupying your time with the good old British 'people-watching'.... perhaps we could introduce that for 2012 - surely a guaranteed gold medal?
    Best of luck for the games, Chris.

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  • 2. At 11:09am on 09 Aug 2008, Dickie62 wrote:

    Just want to take the opportunity to wish Chris and the whole GB squad the very best of luck (my wife is a big fan of The Real McHoy!)

    Looking forward immensely to next weekend and being able to watch the action from the velodrome - hope my bosses aren't reading this but plan to watch all the other events online at work, thanks to the BBC.

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  • 3. At 12:42pm on 09 Aug 2008, singingHannahJ wrote:

    Best of lucking Cycling Team GB - or UK if we're being pedantic. You've done everyone very proud over the years and will do again.

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  • 4. At 1:21pm on 09 Aug 2008, bitterblogger wrote:

    Good luck and wish you all to have a great time in Beijing.

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  • 5. At 4:19pm on 09 Aug 2008, krautbeckerfan wrote:

    From South Wales, best of luck to the cycling team, including Nichole Cooke. but particularly young Geraint Thomas from Caerdiff. We've been watching our final preparations at Newport velodrome, and it seems that you should swipe all cycling gold medals.
    Best of luck lads and lasses!
    Thought: Seeing that Ms. Romero successfully switched from rowing to cycling, will we see the real McHoy rowing for GB in London 2012?

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  • 6. At 4:43pm on 09 Aug 2008, krautbeckerfan wrote:

    of course, not "our final preparations", but yours. In all this excitement, my fingers have gone dyslexic.

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  • 7. At 10:37pm on 09 Aug 2008, blakey_iom wrote:

    I like your blog and hope to read more soon.

    Good luck to you Chris, and the whole of the GB cycling team.

    The Manx will certainly be cheering everyone on along with the rest of the British Isles x

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  • 8. At 9:41pm on 10 Aug 2008, hockinsk wrote:

    British Cycling is gonna' blow the lid off this Olympics with back-to-back golds. The BBC are gonna go into meltodown trying to keep up with you all Chris!

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  • 9. At 6:37pm on 11 Aug 2008, Tartanally wrote:

    Bring it home for us Chris! You and the team are a proper heros back home already for previous acheivements, but to do it again; that's just something else.

    I ran home from school 4 years ago to see you win the Kilo, and I will finishing my degree in sport and exercise science on the days you will be racing.

    Bet of luck chris to you and the team

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  • 10. At 00:32am on 12 Aug 2008, piechucker31 wrote:

    Best wishes to all GB cyclists, you do us proud.

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  • 11. At 08:26am on 12 Aug 2008, jomul19 wrote:

    All the best Chris to you and the rest of the squad

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  • 12. At 10:59am on 15 Aug 2008, Ambisonik wrote:

    Wow world record in qualifying - awsome !!!

    best of luck with the rest of the games,from not so sunny Newport.

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  • 13. At 3:26pm on 15 Aug 2008, carolinehbridges wrote:

    Hi Chris! We went to St. Andrews together -I was Kirsteen's best mate Caroline (was Smith). Have just watched the team sprint and am so thrilled for you all! Good luck tomorrow and enjoy the rest of the Olympics - bring home the other two!

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  • 14. At 2:37pm on 19 Aug 2008, TIMMY? wrote:

    Hi Chris,

    Just want to say well done to you and all the guys over there putting in such a solid effort. The whole country is very proud of team GB and we are with you all the way!
    Keep up the excellent work and also a mention to the trainers and physios etc... (especially for those people in the background who don't get a mention but make all of this possible as well).

    Loving the medal tally and you guys are phenomenal!!



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  • 15. At 10:10pm on 19 Aug 2008, riley_ives wrote:

    awesome performance over the last few days chris!
    you are a legend!!

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