Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour titles last year after the widespread scale of his drug-taking was finally exposed. Hoy said: “It’s going to take a number of generations of clean winners to show you can do it to stop questions being asked. It annoyed me when, very rarely, the finger was pointed at me many years ago”
The Scot won two golds at last year’s Olympics — in the team keirin and the sprint — and was also Team GB’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony for the London Games. Hoy was back at the Olympic Stadium today to promote The National Lottery Anniversary Run, which will see more than 15,000 people race on a five-mile course around the Olympic Park.
Hoy, who will start Sunday’s race, said: “It’ll be great for the crowd, the runners, for everybody who’s going to feel a part of it again and it’ll hopefully bring back memories of last year. It’s a privilege to be starting the race. It’s an iconic venue and its fantastic to be back.”
More than £4billion has been invested in both grassroots and elite sport from money raised by the National Lottery since 1994.
Hoy added: “For me, it couldn’t have come at a better time. I left university just as the Lottery funding was coming on board, so I could go from being a full-time student to a full-time athlete. Otherwise, I would have had to get a job, couldn’t have trained full time and wouldn’t have got to the level I did.”
