KENNY Jason

General
HIATUS
He took a 12-month break from the sport after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I took a year off with no training or anything and completely stepped away. I caught the odd bit on TV but barely even knew what was happening. It was a proper step-away and a proper refresh. Now, looking back on it, I can see it was good to do that. Usually after the Olympics you have a slow kind of degradation until you bottom out. Then you stop trying to hang on to [any good form] and you're looking towards the next one. So potentially I've already started that upward trend now as opposed to trying to hang on to anything from Rio." (bbc.co.uk, 13 Dec 2018)

FAMILY AFFAIR
His wife Laura Kenny is also an international track cyclist who has won a total of three gold medals at the Olympic Games. The pair married in 2016. "I find it much harder watching Laura than competing myself. I understand how my mum and dad have felt for my whole career now. They'd be stressed and I'd say, 'What are you worried about?' But now I get it. You're not in control, but you just want them to do well." (olympic.org, 22 Jul 2019)

He has won a total of six gold medals at the Olympic Games which, along with fellow track cyclist Chris Hoy, makes him the British athlete from any sport with the most gold medals at the Olympic Games. He won one gold [team sprint] at the 2008 Games in Beijing, two golds [sprint, team sprint] four years later in London, and secured three gold medals [sprint, team sprint, keirin] at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. He also won a silver medal in sprint in 2008 in Beijing. (SportsDeskOnline, 16 Apr 2020; olympic.org, 22 Jul 2019)