Gold medal No1: Individual pursuit 2004

In terms of performance, you have got Chris Hoy and you have got Brad. They both know what they want to do and what they need to get there. They ask the right questions. But in terms of character, they are completely different.

It was interesting to be around them in those days, watching how they prepared. Brad let himself go after those Games. He turned up to the first Revolution Series event in October in his Olympic suit and he looked about five months pregnant. He goes off the rails. Chris would never do that.

Rooming with Brad in Athens was fine. He did his thing, I did mine. We were together in the team pursuit and Madison but, in the individual pursuit, we were trying to beat each other. It is not like sprinting, though. I imagine for guys such as Hoy and Jason Kenny that trying to beat each other in a sprint, right there next to each other, can get awkward.

In the individual pursuit it is different, as you are on opposite sides of the track. To say, though, I did not contemplate putting rat poison in his toothpaste may not be true.

But there was no grudge. I went up for my third/fourth final and lost; he went up to the final and won. But he seemed more upset for me not winning a medal than he was happy about taking gold. He even apologised to me.

Would he be the most successful rider ever if he wins a fifth gold in Rio? No, to be honest. It is a bit like when people try to compare Mark Cavendish with Eddie Merckx, which is impossible. Merckx won 11 Grand Tours; Cav is purely a sprinter, albeit a brilliant one.

People at home might be disgusted to hear Brad denied that honour. But he would agree. He won the Tour de France once and never went back. If you look at his range of achievements, though, nobody else comes close.