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Sir Chris of the Velodrome?
British sportsman of the year, Chris Hoy, may be in line for an even greater honor according to British media reports this weekend.
Hoy, who earned three gold medals at this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing, has been recommended for a knighthood, one of the few active competitors to ever have received the honor.
Hoy was recently voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year, defeating a host of other British sports heroes, including Formula 1 champ Lewis Hamilton. Hoy was awarded that distinction on December 15, hours after a scheduled head-to-head race between the two in London’s Wembley Stadium was cancelled due to rain.
Unidentified sources said the proposed knighthood for the 32-year-old athlete, who has won four cycling gold medals during two Olympic Games, was rare as it comes during the height of his athletic career, The Sunday Times of London reported.
Athletes typically knighted in Britain receive the honor after they retire. But Hoy has ambitions to win additional medals for Britain and his native Scotland in the 2012 Games.
Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington, who earned two gold medals at the 2008 Games in Beijing, has been recommended for an Order of the British Empire for her accomplishments, the sources said.
The sources told The Times that due to her young age and expected long athletic career, the 19-year-old British athlete will not be given the rank of dame, the female honorary equivalent to knighthood.
