Sir Chris Hoy and wife Sarra explain how they told children their devastating diagnoses

Six-time Olympic champion Hoy, one of Britain’s most successful ever athletes, was first informed he had prostate cancer in September 2023 and revealed last month that his condition was terminal.

Tragically, Hoy’s partner Sarra – whom he married in 2010 – was herself diagnosed with a ‘very active and aggressive’ form of multiple sclerosis shortly after the track cycling legend was told of his stage-four cancer.

Despite the family going an unthinkably tough time, both Chris and Sarra are intent on remaining positive, with the former determined to live beyond the diagnosis of ‘two to four years’ he was given last year.

Speaking on ITV’s This Morning programme, the Hoys, who recently spent some time away cycling in the Greek mountains, opened up on their experience and the ‘progress’ they had made over the last 12 months.

‘We got the diagnosis and I felt sick, I felt nauseous and the room felt like it was spinning,’ Sir Chris Hoy said, recalling the day his he was given his devastating news.

‘I had to get up, I couldn’t sit still. You can’t ever prepare yourself for that sort of thing, you never imagine yourself in that situation.

‘A million thoughts are running through your head, the first one being, “How on earth are we going to tell the kids?”, all these things.’

Hoy is one of Britain’s most successful Olympians in history (Picture: Getty)

Hoy, Scotland’s most decorated Olympian of all time, highlighted how the couple’s young children Callum, 10, and Chloe, 7, remained their number one priority and ‘purpose’.

‘It’s about dealing with the here and now. It wasn’t as if we flicked a switch and suddenly found hope overnight and found this positivity. It’s a seed that grows slowly, it’s something that takes time,’ he added.

‘It’s only when you look back that you realise how much progress you’ve made.

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‘And actually, we are giving that to our children as well that there is nothing to be feared of other just keep going, look to the future and that then, in turn, lifts us so it’s a cycle.’

Hoy called time on his career in competitive cycling in 2013 and has since worked as a regular pundit and commentator for the BBC.

After returning from the Beijing Games with three gold medals in 2008, the Edinburgh-born star was knighted in the New Year Honours List.

That same year, Hoy was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, seeing off competition from the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Rebecca Adlington to scoop the prestigious prize.

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