HE first got on his racing bike after being inspired by the feats of Scotland's greatest Olympian Chris Hoy at the Athens Games 12 years ago.

And now fellow Scot Callum Skinner has joined his idol in the pantheon of Gold-medal winning cyclists after scooping first place in the men's team sprint at the Rio Olympics.

The Glasgow-born 23-year-old pedalled his way to victory alongside teammates Jason Kenny and Phil Hindes on Thursday night, scoring the first win for Team GB's cyclists in Brazil.

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The trio set a new Olympic record with a time of 42.440 seconds. New Zealand, the world champions, had to settle for silver, finishing just 0.102 seconds behind.

Among those cheering on Callum in Rio was his dad Scott Reid-Skinner, 53, and brother Roy, 20. "It was an unbelievable evening and I'm so proud of Callum and the team," said Mr Reid-Skinner.

"My memories go back to Maxwell Park in Glasgow, taking the stabilisers off his little red bike, and teaching him to ride for the first time. It certainly paid off all the way to here in Rio and Olympic gold."

Mr Reid-Skinner added that emotions were still running high. "Roy and I are stunned and tearful," he said. "It is raining in Rio but sunshine all the way in the Skinner household. Fingers crossed for the days ahead."

His mother Judith, who was also in the crowd, said she was "blown away" but her son's achievement. She added: "My heart was in my mouth because it it's just such tiny margins.

"Callum is the anchorman and I was just willing him on, like I was blowing him round the track to be that 0.1 faster than the other team.

"It's just the most exhilarating experience. I love the racing and I love watching him. They are just awesome."

Messages of congratulations have flooded in from across Scotland including from First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who described the gold medal as "brilliant" and Callum's long-time hero Sir Chris who said it was "phenomenal".

The win was the culmination of a determined journey which began with the Edinburgh-based cycling team The Racers more than a decade ago that has seen the Scot overcome asthma, a cancer scare when doctors feared he had lymphoma - later revealed to be a false alarm - and a broken collarbone after a bad crash in training.

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And it is the latest highlight in a career which has already seen Skinner become a British champion in four disciplines and the 2014 European gold medallist in the kilo event.

His old coach Allister Watson said: "We're all just starting to get our voices back after last night. I watched it at home on the computer and I'm over the moon.

"Callum was one of our first members and started just after Chris Hoy's win in 2004 when he was a skinny 12-year-old. He's always been clear that he was going to make a go of it.

"He's calm and focused and has been very driven towards the goal of getting an Olympic medal."

He paid tribute to Callum's mother Judith for steering her son on towards the path to Olympic glory, saying: "She is a very thoughtful parent who knows that it's a case of being supportive and giving Callum the space to get on with things.

"I remember that when he was training for the British Championships there was one night he didn't turn up at Meadowbank, which was unusual as he is very conscientious about training.

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"It turned out that his mother had said 'if you don't finish your homework, you don't get to go to training.' He didn't finish his homework, so he didn't go."