Hoy defeated fellow Briton Jason Kenny to add the sprint title to the keirin and team sprint gold medals he won earlier in the Beijing Games programme to become the first British athlete to claim a trio of titles at a single Olympics since swimmer Henry Taylor in 1908.

"He's resilient and he does genuinely embody those Olympic values of fair play and working hard, and he is the real deal," said Brailsford of the 32-year-old, who also possesses a gold medal for the kilo won in Athens four years ago. "I don't think anybody can win three gold medals without being that genuine person that he is. He's fun, he's always making a joke around the dinner table. He'll always sit and talk to anybody.

"He's a true gentleman and to me he embodies what a true Olympic athlete is meant to be."

Hoy's medal winning ability was one of the cornerstones of a superb British performance on the track as the team claimed seven titles, three silver medals and two bronze to complete the most dominant Olympic display ever seen in the sport. No other nation won more than one gold medal at the Velodrome.

Victoria Pendleton, Britain's other cycling gold medal winner yesterday, described Hoy as "an inspiration to the British cycling team and an inspiration to British sport."

She then conquered her demons in the women's sprint final, four years after her Athens heartbreak.

The 27-year-old from Hitchin beat Anna Meares of Australia in a display which was a long way from the moment she froze on the Olympic stage.

Tipped as a medal contender in 2004, she finished sixth in the now absent time-trial and was knocked out in the first round of the sprint.

"I've wanted this so badly. I'd beaten everyone in the field so there was a lot pressure on me to win a medal – I'm 'the golden girl of the track'," she said. "But I didn't think about the outcome, I just tried to focus on the process. I didn't even allow myself to think about winning or failing, I just focused on the training I'd done."