In the course of a glittering cycling career that started at the age of nine Staff won world championships in two branches of cycle sport: BMX in 1996 and track cycling.

On the track he took the world championship wins in two different disciplines: the Team Sprint in 2002, 2005 and 2009; and the Keirin in 2004.

The crowning moment of his career though came in Beijing in 2008 when he rode at the front for the first lap of the Team Sprint taking the Great Britain trio to the fastest opening lap ever recorded on their way to taking the Olympic Gold Medal.

Staff switched from BMX to track in 2001 to fulfill his ambition of winning an Olympic medal - BMX was not then an Olympic sport and track cycling particularly.

The sprint disciplines seemed a natural fit for his talents, indeed many of Britain's top track sprinters started out in BMX including Craig MacLean and most notably of all, Sir Chris Hoy, Staff though was by some distance the most successful British BMX rider to make the switch.

In his statement, reprinted below, Staff said that it was time to “pass the challenge on to the younger members of the Great Britain” squad, and in a typically realistic assessment of his own chances said “I would struggle to compete with the best riders in the World at the London Olympics and be in a position to win the Gold medal again.”

No word yet on whether his new bike company will specialise in BMX or track bikes, or both, but we'll find out. We certainly look forward to seeing them and wish Jamie all the best for the future. Thanks for some great memories.