‘Comparison is the thief of joy’ – Chris Hoy admits he was obsessed with rivals during golden years

Chris Hoy insists that “comparison is the thief of joy” as he gave a passionate plea to the next generation to stop worrying about what other people are doing. Speaking on the latest episode of Eurosport’s The Breakdown podcast, Hoy joined hosts Orla Chennaoui and Greg Rutherford to bemoan our culture of comparison. Ad/> Hoy won six Olympic gold medals across three Games, a feat that made him Team GB’s most successful Olympian in history before Jason Kenny won his seventh title in the Tokyo velodrome last summer to surpass him.

/> Cycling — Track'Life's not fair' — Hoy on dealing with grief, and losing dear friend MooreAN HOUR AGO However, he admitted that he was plagued with thoughts about what his rivals and team-mates were doing during his golden years – and said he was concerned for the current generation due to the growth of social media. “Comparison is the thief of joy,” said Hoy. “Looking at what other people are doing, looking at their performances, consistently measuring yourself against them and looking at what they're doing in their lives.

Instagram, fear of missing out – comparing yourself to other people is the worst thing you can do. “And I did it. I used to do it in training.

We had a little training book that the coach would write the times in. It was a stopwatch and a book and they would write the times down. And in the team you'd have guys like Jason Queally, Craig MacLean, Jamie Staff, Jason Kenny in later years, Ross Edgar – real world class sprinters who were your team-mates, but you were competing against them.

“They were fighting for a place – maybe one spot in the Olympics amongst you. So you're constantly competing. In the early years, I would be looking at their times.