Sir Chris Hoy addresses 'unimaginable year' after terminal cancer diagnosis

Sir Chris Hoy has spoken about the year since being diagnosed with terminal cancer and how he is responding to treatment

Sir Chris Hoy has spoken about his "unimaginable" year since being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The 48-year-old Olympic legend, who won six Olympic cycling gold medals between 2004 and 2012, was told by doctors that he has primary cancer in his prostate which has spread to his bones, and was given between two to four years to live.

Sir Chris told The Sunday Times in October that his cancer had become stage 4 and that this was a diagnosis he had known "for over a year." The champion cyclist has shared some brighter news, saying he is "optimistic, positive and surrounded by love" and told Sky Sports News : "I'm doing well. I'm in the best shape I've been in in over a year. I'm physically not in any pain at all. Treatment has worked really well. Everything is stable. I couldn't have responded better to the treatment available."

Sir Chris continued: "I'm very grateful. It's been an unimaginable year. 18 months ago, if you had told me this was coming up, you couldn't have imagined it. That's life, isn't it? You get curveballs. It's how you deal with it. You make a plan and you move forward.

"I'm so lucky to have genuinely amazing people around me, from family, friends, medical support, the general public you have really propped us up and lifted our spirits. I feel very fortunate in that respect."

Sir Chris has been working as a pundit and commentator for the BBC since retiring from cycling in 2013 and he said it was the "biggest shock" that tumours were found in his shoulder, pelvis, hip, spine and rib.

After the diagnosis was made public, Sir Chris released a statement in which he shared more details. He said: "Initially, it's not easy. We tried to keep it private and keep it to ourselves in the first few weeks and months, just to get our heads around the situation.

"Our hand was forced initially in that a journalist started snooping around, so we had to make an announcement that I'd been diagnosed with cancer. I was going through treatment at that point, through chemotherapy, but that I was doing OK and would explain more in due course. That was probably the hardest part, explaining the full situation. It was a big step but we knew it was the right thing to do."

The Olympic champion continued: "I think it's almost not wanting speculation. You want to be sure that the facts are out there. The less you give, the more people are going to speculate and the more the media are going to pry and maybe come up with false information.

"We thought, 'let's get on the front foot, let's tell the story how it is.' One of the biggest motivators personally was it means I can do a positive thing, which is setting up a charity event next year. Then you have a purpose. For me now, this is my purpose."

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