Sir Chris Hoy: Six-time Olympic gold medallist opens up on 'unimaginable' year following cancer diagnosis

Over his glittering cycling career he won pretty much everything and did it in a way which made him a household name. Not just the power he showcased on his bike - let's not forget he has the world's largest thighs. But he smiled and laughed, was self-deprecating and full of humility.

One of the genuinely nice guys in sport. I've been lucky enough to cover nine Olympic Games but Hoy is special. He was the first Team GB gold medallist I ever interviewed - he'd had no sleep and might have celebrated quite hard the night before, yet despite this, on meeting me burst into a huge grin, gripped and shook my hand and made me feel like I'd won a medal, not him.

So in October, when news filtered out that Hoy's cancer diagnosis was terminal, it was a horrible shock for all that know him, and have admired him and his sporting success.

Yet despite that awful news, despite the impact on him, his wife, children, wider family and friends, Hoy has approached this challenge with positivity

Hoy has digested the prognosis that his prostate cancer is life-limiting and now he has found a new purpose.

"For me, my purpose is spreading awareness about it, trying to get men to go and get checked," Hoy said.

"It's a very simple thing to deal with if you catch it early enough.

"I realise how far I've come now. There's no way I could have sat here talking to you six months ago. I would have been a gibbering wreck.

"The overall hope was that it would help people, not just people going through a cancer diagnosis.

"But that you can get through the most extreme situations and pop out the other end, whilst you still have hope and are able to live your life."

Hoy described this year as "unimaginable" following the news he had prostate cancer. He was told the cancer was stage four, that it had spread and was terminal.

Hoy's doctors have told him he has between two and four years to live.

The positivity Hoy exudes, however, is extraordinary.

"I'm doing well. The best shape I've been in for over a year. I'm physically not in any pain at all," Hoy said.

"Treatment has worked really well, everything is stable and I couldn't have responded better to it.

"So basically in the current situation - the best-case scenario - I'm very grateful. It's been an unimaginable year. Eighteen months ago, if you told me this is what was coming up, you couldn't have imagined it, but that's life, isn't it?

"You get curveballs. It's how you deal with it, and how you make a plan and move forward. I've been so lucky to have genuinely amazing people around me, from family, friends, medical support, the general public."