Laura Kenny's record-breaking achievements as Britain's most successful female Olympic athlete following her retirement from cycling

The 31-year-old, who has won five Olympic gold medals in her decorated career, had been expected to compete at the Paris Games this summer, but has decided it was time to stop.

Kenny's career in numbers

5 – Kenny won five Olympic golds, the first British woman to claim titles in three consecutive Games with success in 2012, 2016 and 2020, and she won six Olympic medals in all, including a silver in 2020.

12 – The combined haul of Olympic golds for Laura and husband Sir Jason – enough to make the clock they had long talked about.

67 – Kenny also had seven world titles and 14 European titles as part of a career haul of 67 medals across the Olympics, World Championships, European Championships, UCI World Cups and Commonwealth Games, with 47 of them gold.

11 – Kenny has been central to Britain’s success in the women’s team pursuit during her career, and was part of teams that broke the world record on 11 different occasions between 2012 and 2016.

78 – The points scored by Kenny and Katie Archibald as they won the Madison race at Tokyo 2020, the first time it had been part of the women’s competition at an Olympics. They had more than twice as many points as second-placed Denmark, who finished on 35.

Kenny's Olympic medal record

• London 2012: 2x Gold (Omnium, Team pursuit)
• 2016 Rio de Janeiro: 2x Gold (Omnium, Team pursuit)
• 2020 Tokyo: 1x Gold (Madison) 1x Silver (Team pursuit)

Kenny at the World Championships (2010 to 2020)

• 7 Gold: 4x Team Pursuit, 1x Scratch, 1x Omnium
• 7 Silver: 3x Omnium, 4x Team Pursuit
• 1 Bronze: Team Pursuit

Kenny at the European Championships (2011 to 2020)

• 14 Gold: 8x Team Pursuit, 4x Omnium, 1x Scratch, 1x Elimination Race
• 3 Silver: 2x Omnium, 1x Madison
• 1 Bronze: Madison

Kenny at the Commonwealth Games

• Glasgow 2014: 1x Gold (Points race)
• Birmingham 2022: 1x Gold (Scratch) 1x Bronze (Team pursuit)

Laura Kenny's reaction

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Kenny said: “I always knew deep down I would know when was the right time. I have had an absolute blast but now is the time for me to hang that bike up.”

Kenny and her husband, Sir Jason Kenny – Britain’s most decorated Olympian – last year welcomed a second son to their family and she said spending time at home was proving more and more alluring to her.

“It’s been in my head a little while, the sacrifices of leaving the children and your family at home is really quite big and it really is a big decision to make,” she added.

“More and more, I was struggling to do that. More people asking me what races was I doing, what training camps was I going on – I didn’t want to go ultimately and that’s what it came down to.

“I knew the minute I was getting those feelings. Once I said to Jase, ‘I don’t think I want to ride a bike anymore’, I started to feel relief.”

Kenny won team pursuit and omnium gold at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and madison gold at the 2020 Olympics, where she also won a silver medal in the team pursuit.

She is a seven-time world champion and 14-time European champion, won two Commonwealth Games titles and was British National Road Race champion in 2014.

“Going on to win another gold medal, as much as I would love to do that, it wasn’t giving me the energy I wanted anymore, it just wasn’t,” she added.

“I wasn’t thinking, ‘I really want to go on and win one’. I was thinking, ‘I really want to stay at home with the children’.”

Kenny said the “absolute highlight” of her career was the 2012 Games in London, during which her relationship with Jason also became public.

“I never thought I would go to a home games, let alone go on to win two gold medals,” she said.

“When I look back, I’m like ‘wow, those two weeks did really change my life’.”

Kenny, made a Dame in the 2021 New Year’s Honours, hopes to be at this summer’s Paris Olympics “in some capacity” and wants to stay involved with the GB cycling team.

“There’s nothing set in stone but there are things I’m so interested in doing,” she added.

“Something to help the younger generation, whether that could be some kind of academy.

“I could never be a coach because that’s just too much pressure for me, but maybe something in the background that would help the youngsters have the opportunities I had.”

Great Britain team performance director Stephen Park paid tribute to Kenny, saying: “Laura hangs up her wheels as not just one of the sport’s greatest riders, but as one of the greatest sporting talents our country has ever produced.”

Park added: “Just as impressive, however, is the impact which Laura has had on her fellow riders on the GB cycling team and the next generation of Olympic hopefuls.

“She has been a beacon of inspiration for so many, young and old, and I’m sure that the entire British cycling community will join me in wishing her the very best in the next chapter of her life.”