Sir Jason Kenny, Great Britain’s most decorated Olympian of all-time, has announced his retirement from competitive cycling.
The 33-year-old will now take up a coaching role at British Cycling to mentor the next generation of Olympic stars, calling time on a historic track career that included an astonishing nine medals and seven golds at the Games in total.
Kenny began his gold haul at Beijing in 2008, also picking up a silver, added two more golds on home soil at London 2012 and a hat-trick in Rio de Janeiro four years later.
He became the most successful and decorated Team GB Olympic athlete ever at the delayed Games in Tokyo last summer, winning gold again in the Keirin as well as collecting a silver medal as part of the men’s sprint team.
Along with wife Laura, Kenny forms part of Britain’s celebrated Olympic golden couple, with Laura also a six-time medalist and five-time Olympic champion.
The pair were awarded a knighthood and damehood respectively in the most recent Queen’s New Year Honours list.
But while Laura has her sights set on the Paris Games in 2024, Jason has now retired having previously lamented the toll that training and competing was taking on his body.
“A massive part of me would love to continue and try to get to Paris and I’m a little bit sad in a way to not do that,” Kenny told BBC Breakfast on Thursday.
“The opportunity at British Cycling to be a coach might not be there in three years. I thought I’d take it now.
“It’s a combination of things. The opportunity came up at British Cycling to be a coach and it’s something I wanted to do when I stopped anyway and it might not be there in three years so I thought for the sake of three years, I don’t know if I can do three more years anyway, I thought I’d take the opportunity now.
“I’m really sad. It’s all I’ve ever known is racing and training. I’m sad on that front but excited to start this new journey.
“It’s a step into the unknown. I’ve worked with amazing coaches and I’m trying to unlock my memories of what I remember as a rider and what I liked.”
Along with his Olympic medal haul, Kenny is also a three-time world champion, with 10 World Championship medals in total.
He also has two Commonwealth Games silver medals to his name and six medals from the European Championship, including one gold.
