Yesterday, he was presented with his gold medal by Sir Craig Reedie, the Scot who, as chairman of the British Olympic Association, played a key role in London's successful bid for the 2012 Games. And Sir Craig didn't waste the opportunity to tell Hoy what his third gold medal meant, grabbing him by the shoulders and telling him: "You are now Scotland's greatest Olympian."

That is unarguably true. Though four Scots have won two golds, none has three. It means that, six years before his likely retirement, Hoy can be acknowledged as an all-time great, alongside such luminaries as Eric Liddell, whose remains are buried not too far from the scene of last night's triumph. There is another link between the two flying Scots – Hoy's grandmother, Mary Reid, attended church in Edinburgh with Liddell.

Returning a little crudely to the present, it is difficult to estimate what Hoy's achievement might be worth in financial terms – and premature at this stage, since he has a third gold medal in his sights in the sprint competition, which gets under way today and concludes on Tuesday. Yet even if he wins that – and he is the favourite – we are probably talking thousands, or hundreds of thousands, rather than millions, for the simple reason that, in Hoy's sport, the Olympics are the pinnacle.

When Chris Boardman won his Olympic gold medal in 1992 – the first by a British cyclist in 84 years – it proved a launch pad to a career in continental road cycling, the most lucrative branch of the sport. Track cycling, alas for Hoy, is the poor relation – but in his favour are attributes that transcend sport.

In Laoshan Velodrome yesterday, Boardman reflected on Hoy's success by comparing him with Britain's greatest Olympian of modern times, Steve Redgrave. "Redgrave was ignored until he won his fourth gold," said Boardman. "But when he got to four he was a hero, a legend, so it's difficult to predict at what point you attain that status as a legend.

"But Chris has a lot more going for him than gold medals. He's very articulate, amiable and likeable, and I think when he finishes in sport there'll be no end of opportunities for him."

The significant rewards come when an athlete becomes blue chip – a Redgrave, Coe or, gulp, Beckham. "Quite possibly he could reach Redgrave-like status," said Boardman, "but I would hope that commercially he'll do well. He's an attractive proposition. He's a good-looking lad, he smiles easily – he's the type of person sponsors want to be associated with, there's no doubt about that.

"He deserves it. One of the things I most like about him is that he listens to people. He doesn't just talk about himself; he's genuinely interested in other people. He values the people around him."

One question that is repeatedly asked about Hoy is this: if he is so nice, how does he keep winning? "You get quiet, gentle boxers," pointed out Boardman. "His aggression, his ruthlessness, is channelled, it's focused in the right direction. But the thing about Chris is he's not competing with other people; he's competing with himself. He's trying to be as good as he can be – he's focused on himself."

"He's tough to work with," added Boardman, who is in charge of the team's equipment. "He pushes and pushes for more. He's always asking, 'Can this not be lighter? Can we make this better?' He's always polite and appreciative, but he won't settle for second best."

Peter Keen, the man who established British Cycling's world-class performance plan a decade ago, has said that Hoy and Boardman are similar in their "total unwillingness to accept mediocrity". Boardman nodded at the comparison. "Yeah, we both share a genuine fascination with performance. It's like a challenge, a puzzle to be solved."

For Hoy the journey to becoming a great athlete began when he was seven, and prepared meticulously for his BMX races, setting up jumps in the garden, and practising his starts until it was dark. It continued when he struggled through mountain bike races, sometimes finishing, according to his father, "five hours down." These experiences, added David Hoy, motivated him "to train harder, so he'd only be four hours down the next time."

His first coach, Ray Harris, who ran the Dunedin Cycling Club in Edinburgh, and introduced him to track cycling at the Meadowbank Velodrome, sent Hoy an e-mail last night. It was Harris who, when he was a teenager, encouraged Hoy to set short, medium and long-term goals and, importantly, according to Hoy, "didn't laugh, but encouraged me" when the teenager wrote "Olympic champion" in the final column.

The e-mail Harris sent Hoy last night read: "Thanks Chris. Bloody marvellous show again." Then he issued some new goals: "Short term – the British cycling team to assume the management and running of the NHS; Medium term – run the United Kingdom, as the only party to benefit from 'lessons learned', and 'meeting performance targets,' with time out to mop up at the 2012 Olympics; Long term – the world is your oyster."