No signs of slowing down as Hoy eyes his future

Like a fine wine, he is getting better with age.

Hoy has seen a lot of changes since he first walked in to an Olympic Village 37 years ago, and it's not just the human athletes that have needed to evolve.

At 62, this week he became Australia's oldest Olympic medallist when Hoy took silver in the Teams event and bronze in the Individual, when he competed in his eighth Games in Tokyo.

"While my sport has changed, there's been a huge change in the care and management of the horses," Hoy said.

"Nutrition for the horses has evolved, as has the whole use of sports science around them. The information we get back from the vets and how they are doing is just remarkable."

And while he has travelled all over the world on his Olympic odyssey, Hoy believes getting horses to and from an Olympic venue has also become a much smoother process.

"There's no doubt there's been great improvements in the way horses are transported, it's just so much slicker for them compared to when I first started."

1984 was a different time. Bob Hawke was the Australian Prime Minister. Bruce Springsteen's ‘Dancing in the Dark' was number one on the Australian charts and there were just 21 sports on the Los Angeles Olympic program, compared to the 33 on offer in Tokyo.

Hoy believes the way his own sport has evolved during that time is one of the keys to its, and his, longevity.

"Equestrian is so much faster now. The dynamics have really changed.

"If you liken it to athletics, when I first started it was like a marathon, with long endurance – not [that] it's the equivalent of a five or 10,000 metre race – it just comes at you so much quicker, and with way more intensity.

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