- Naming the Commonwealth Games after legendary Scot is a huge chance to raise awareness of prostate cancer
- Impact made by Doddie Weir’s charity on MND shows lives CAN be saved through the power of sport
- In a city with a velodrome named after him, Hoy’s name should be front and centre at Glasgow 2026
It’s official. The Commonwealth Games are coming back to Glasgow in 2026. The sports have been selected, the venues chosen.
All that’s left to do is to make them ‘The Sir Chris Hoy Games’ and we’re full steam ahead.
For make no mistake, there is now an opportunity to do something far more important than just honouring the legendary Scot, who revealed at the weekend he is suffering from terminal cancer.
While that, of course, should be high on the organising committee’s to-do list, there’s a chance here to do so much more: save lives.
Just look at how the world of rugby and beyond embraced another Scottish sporting legend, Doddie Weir, after he went public on his MND diagnosis.
Just look at how his charity has done, and continues to do, such wonderful work in terms of raising money for those impacted by the disease while also funding crucial research into it as well.
Sir Chris Hoy should be installed as the face of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
The six-time Olympic gold medalist is a hero to the people of Scotland
Hoy with rugby icon Doddie Weir, who helped raise awareness of motor neurone disease
Already, we have seen the ‘Hoy impact’. The six-time Olympic cycling gold medallist, from Edinburgh, revealed on Sunday that he had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and been told he has between two and four years to live.
His candid interview prompted online searches about cancer to rise to their highest level since the announcements in February and March about the Royals’ diagnoses.
Visits to the website of the charity Macmillan Cancer Support were 34 per cent higher than the average Sunday over the past year.
Its online pages about prostate cancer received 1,600 hits, an increase of 132 per cent on the typical Sunday web traffic. The charity believes Sir Chris’s decision to be open about his diagnosis could save lives by encouraging people to see their doctor about worrying symptoms.
Now think what a platform like the Commonwealth Games could do in spreading that message. What a legacy that would be for the great man.
Glasgow 2026 might be scaled back but it could be the most powerful and poignant Games yet. Let’s not waste such an incredible opportunity.
