The Best Olympic Athletes in Track Cycling

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Updated May 20, 2020 4.9K votes 351 voters

List of the best track cycling Olympic athletes of all time, with photos of the athletes when available. The famous track cycling event Olympians on this list are all regarded as some of the toughest athletes to have ever competed at the Olympics. Almost every one of these historic track cycling Olympians have taken home a medal, which is why they've earned a spot on this list. Only the greatest track cycling Olympic athletes are featured on the front page of this list, so be sure to vote for who you believe are the best track cycling athletes and vote down the ones you disagree with.

Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy are included in this list.

This list answers the questions, "Who are the greatest Olympic track cycling athletes?" and "Who is the best track cycling competitor of all time?"
Ranked by
  • Chris Hoy
    1

    Chris Hoy

    Age: 47
    156 votes
    • Olympic Country: United Kingdom
    • Date Of Birth: 03-23-1976
    • Place Of Birth: Edinburgh,Scotland,United Kingdom,United Kingdom, with Dependencies and Territories
    • Olympic Sport: Track cycling
    • Nationality: United Kingdom
    • Olympic Medalist Event Competition: Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's sprint,Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's team sprint,Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's Keirin,Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's 1000m Time Trial
    • Olympic Medalist Event: Men's Track cycling, Sprint individual,Men's Track cycling, Olympic Sprint,Men's Track cycling
    • Olympic Medalist Games: 2008 Summer Olympics,2004 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Games Participant: 2004 Summer Olympics,2000 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Medals Won: Gold medal
    Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy, MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a British racing driver and former track cyclist who represented Great Britain at the Olympics and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a world champion and six-times an Olympic champion. With a total of seven Olympic medals, six gold and one silver, Hoy is the second most decorated Olympic cyclist of all time. With his three gold medals in 2008 Summer Olympics, Hoy became Scotland's most successful Olympian, the first British athlete to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games since Henry Taylor in 1908, and the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time. After winning a further two gold medals (in the keirin and team sprint) at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Hoy has won more Olympic gold medals (six) than any other British athlete along with Jason Kenny, and more total medals (seven) than any except fellow cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins.
  • Laura Trott
    2

    Laura Trott

    Age: 31
    122 votes
    • Olympic Country: United Kingdom
    • Date Of Birth: 04-24-1992
    • Place Of Birth: Harlow, United Kingdom, England
    • Olympic Sport: Track cycling
    • Nationality: United Kingdom
    • Olympic Medalist Event Competition: Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's Omnium, Cycling at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's team pursuit
    • Olympic Medalist Event: Women's Track Cycling, Omnium, Women's Track Cycling, Team Pursuit
    • Olympic Medalist Games: The London 2012 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Games Participant: The London 2012 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Medals Won: Gold medal
    Laura Trott, OBE is an English track and road cyclist who specialises in the team pursuit and omnium disciplines. She is the inaugural Olympic champion in both events. Representing Great Britain, Trott is the reigning Olympic and European champion in both events, as well as the reigning four-time world champion in the team pursuit, and a former world champion in the omnium. She is the most successful rider, male or female, in the history of the European Track Championships, with seven titles as of October 2014. A rider for the Wiggle Honda professional cycling team, in 2014 Trott won the British championship in the road race, winning the senior and under-23 titles simultaneously.
  • Jason Kenny
    3

    Jason Kenny

    Age: 35
    138 votes
    • Olympic Country: United Kingdom
    • Date Of Birth: 03-23-1988
    • Place Of Birth: Bolton,United Kingdom,Greater Manchester,Lancashire,Europe
    • Olympic Sport: Track cycling
    • Nationality: United Kingdom
    • Olympic Medalist Event Competition: Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's team sprint,Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's sprint
    • Olympic Medalist Event: Men's Track cycling, Olympic Sprint,Men's Track cycling, Sprint individual
    • Olympic Medalist Games: 2008 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Games Participant: 2008 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Medals Won: Gold medal,Silver medal
    Jason Francis Kenny, (born 23 March 1988) is a British track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints. After winning multiple World and European Junior titles in 2006 and achieving medals in the under 23 European championships in 2007, Kenny was selected ahead of Ross Edgar to compete for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Along with Chris Hoy and Jamie Staff, he won a gold medal in the team sprint, breaking the world record in the qualifying round. He finished behind team-mate Chris Hoy in the final of the individual sprint, gaining a silver medal. In January 2012, he gained his first world championship title, after Grégory Baugé's results were nullified after a backdated 12-month ban for missing a drugs test, and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) promoted Kenny to the gold medal. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, he won gold medals in both the team sprint and in the individual sprint, beating Baugé in the final. At the 2016 Summer Olympics Kenny repeated his 2012 wins in the Team Sprint and the Individual Sprint, and also won a Gold Medal the Keirin, Kenny is the joint holder of the highest number of Olympic Golds for a British athlete (6) alongside fellow track cyclist Chris Hoy. Kenny's six Olympic gold medals place him the joint 25th in terms of gold medals won in the modern Summer Olympic games since 1896 with only Michael Phelps (23) and Usain Bolt (8) winning more since the Games of the new millennium in 2000.
  • Lutz Heßlich
    4

    Lutz Heßlich

    Age: 64
    87 votes
    • Date Of Birth: 01-17-1959
    • Place Of Birth: Ortrand,Germany,Brandenburg,Europe,Western Europe
    • Olympic Sport: Cycling
    • Nationality: Germany
    • Olympic Medalist Event Competition: Cycling at the 1988 Summer Olympics - Men's Sprint,Cycling at the 1980 Summer Olympics - Men's Sprint
    • Olympic Medalist Event: Men's Track cycling, Sprint individual
    • Olympic Medalist Games: 1988 Summer Olympics,1980 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Games Participant: 1980 Summer Olympics,1988 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Medals Won: Gold medal
    Lutz Heßlich (born 17 January 1959) is a former racing cyclist from East Germany.He competed for East Germany in the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union in the individual sprint event where he finished in first place. He missed the 1984 Summer Olympics due to the Soviet led boycott but returned to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea where he won a second gold medal in the individual sprint. In October 1986, he was awarded a Star of People's Friendship in gold (second class) for his sporting success.
  • Tara Whitten
    5

    Tara Whitten

    63 votes
  • Bradley Wiggins
    6

    Bradley Wiggins

    Age: 43
    85 votes
    • Olympic Country: United Kingdom
    • Date Of Birth: 04-28-1980
    • Place Of Birth: Ghent,Belgium,East Flanders,Earth,Europe
    • Olympic Sport: Track cycling
    • Nationality: United Kingdom
    • Olympic Medalist Event Competition: Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's team pursuit,Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Men's individual pursuit,Cycling at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's Individual Pursuit
    • Olympic Medalist Event: Men's Track cycling, Team Pursuit (4000m),Men's Track cycling, Individual Pursuit
    • Olympic Medalist Games: 2008 Summer Olympics,2004 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Games Participant: 2004 Summer Olympics,2000 Summer Olympics
    • Olympic Medals Won: Gold medal
    Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. Nicknamed "Wiggo", he began his cycling career on the track, but made the transition to road cycling and is one of the few cyclists in the modern era to gain significant elite level success in both those forms of professional cycling. He is the only rider to have combined winning both World and Olympic championships on both the track and the road, as well as winning the Tour de France, and holding the iconic track hour record. In addition, he has worn the leader's jersey in each of the three Grand Tours of cycling and held the world record in team pursuit on multiple occasions. The son of the Australian cyclist Gary Wiggins, Wiggins was born to a British mother in Ghent, Belgium, and raised in London from the age of two. He competed on the track from the early part of his career until 2008. Between 2000 and 2008 he won ten medals at the track world championships, of which six were gold: three in the individual pursuit, two in the team pursuit and one in the madison. His first Olympic medal was a silver in the team pursuit in Sydney 2000, before winning three medals including the gold in the individual pursuit at the Athens 2004, and two golds in the individual and team pursuit at the Beijing 2008. On the road, Wiggins turned professional in 2001 but made it his focus from 2008. Initially viewed as a time trial specialist and as a rouleur, he showed his ability in stage races when he came fourth in the 2009 Tour de France; he was later promoted to third after Lance Armstrong's results were annulled in 2012. He signed with the newly formed Team Sky in 2010, and in 2011 he claimed his first victory in a major stage race in the Critérium du Dauphiné, as well as finishing third, later promoted to second, in the Vuelta a España. In 2012, Wiggins won the Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France and the time trial at the Olympic Games. In 2014, he won gold in the time trial at the road world championships, and founded the WIGGINS cycling team. Wiggins returned to the track at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and in June 2015 he set a new hour record with a distance of 54.526 km (33.881 mi). In 2016, he won a further world championship in the madison, and gold in the team pursuit at the Olympics, his fifth successive medal winning appearance at the Games. He retired from all forms of professional cycling on 28 December 2016. Wiggins was awarded a CBE in 2009. Following his success in 2012, Wiggins was the subject of further honours and awards; the Vélo d'Or award for best rider of the year, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award and a knighthood as part of the 2013 New Year Honours. On 5 March 2018, the British House of Commons Committee for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport published their report called "Combatting doping in sport". They concluded inter alia that Team Sky had used the powerful banned corticosteroid triamcinolone in 2012 under TUE "to prepare Bradley Wiggins, and possibly other riders supporting him, for the Tour de France. The purpose of this was not to treat medical need, but to improve his power to weight ratio ahead of the race."