Hoy beat team-mate and training partner Jason Kenny in an all-British final of the sprint to become the first Briton since swimmer Henry Taylor in 1908 to win three gold medals at one Games.

 

They were the first British riders to reach the final of this event since Reg Harris at London 60 years ago.

 

Before a crowd including Tony Blair and the Princess Royal, he underlined his dominance with a crushing victory over Kenny to take Britain's overall total of medals in the Laoshan Velodrome to a remarkable 12, six of which were gold, beating the previous best of five set by Italy in 1996 and Australia in 2000.

 

It also made Hoy the first cyclist in the 112-year history of the Olympics to win four gold medals at four different disciplines.

 

Having won the 1km time trial in Athens four years ago he was unable to defend that event in Beijing because it was dropped from the programme to accommodate the introduction of BMX into the Games so had to find new events to take part, which has done with devastating effect.

 

This gold medal was added to those the 32-year-old from Edinburgh he had already won in the team sprint and kierin events.

 

As he cycled around the track on his lap of honour he saw his family and sobbed on the shoulder of his father.

 

Hoy said: "I cannot tell you how it feels - it is amazing.

 

"When you cross the line, all the pressure that built up, the expectation and the self-doubt evaporates just like that.

 

"When you want something that much and the hours you put in, it is an amazing feeling when you achieve it.

 

"I was vaguely aware of the history, people tell you about it.

 

"But I tried to make it the furthest thought from my mind.

 

"And that's why the emotions come out at the end.

 

"You bottle it for so long that it just erupts at the end."

 

Kenny, a 20-year-old from Bolton who had won a gold medal in the team sprint, installed himself as the rider to replace Hoy when he hangs up his helmet and was endorsed by the man himself.

 

Hoy said: "Kenny has come through the ranks and he is the man who will win at London 2012.

 

"Beating him was really tough - it was probably the hardest race of my life."

 

A few minutes earlier, Pendleton had scooped gold in the women's sprint, with such a crushing victory against the 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Anna Meares that the Australian gave up chasing her 50 metres from the line of the second race.

 

Pendleton, a 27-year-old Bedfordshire, missed out on a medal at Athens, and nearly gave up competing internationally because of the disappointment.

 

Pendleton said: "It's taking a while to sink in.

 

"I can't believe it all went to plan."

 

"This whole week hasn't been real.

 

"I keep pinching myself thinking I'm going to wake up.

 

"It's a dream come true.

 

"I had confidence.

 

"My qualifying time was stronger than the others.

 

"I knew my speed was good so I just tried to stay calm."

 

The only disappointment of the five-day track programme came when Bradley Wiggins missed out on his own chance of a third gold in the Madison with partner Mark Cavendish.

 

The pair came eighth overall - the end of a tough Olympic schedule for Wiggins, who had already won gold in the individual and team pursuit events.

 

Argentina took gold, Spain silver and Russia bronze.

 

It meant that Cavendish, the sensation of this year's Tour de France, was the only member of the track cycling squad not to win a medal.

 

Hoy's victories have catapulted him into superstar status and he is unlikely to suffer the fate of Taylor, winner of the 800 metres freestyle, 1500m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay in London 100 years ago.

 

Taylor, a cotton mill worker who learnt to swim in Chadderton Baths, won another bronze medal in the relay at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm but his career was interrupted by World War One when he joined the Royal Navy.

 

His ship HMS Vincent was sunk during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and he spent two hours in the North Sea swimming around his ship mates to encourage them.

 

Taylor resumed his swimming career after the War and added a fifth Olympic medal to his collection in 1920 at Antwerp in the relay.

 

After his retirement from the pool in 1926, Taylor bought the Nudger pub in Dobcross, Oldham, but the business went bust and he returned to Chadderton Baths, this time as an attendant.

 

Sadly, Taylor had to sell his Olympic medals to support himself in later life and died in poverty at the age of 65 in 1951.