It was the magical moment that had millions of us on the edge of our seats as Sir Chris Hoy became only the second Briton in 100 years to win three gold medals at the same games.
But for a nine-year-old Rhys Britton, it was that split second, 5,000 miles away in Beijing that changed his life.
The budding cyclist knew in an instant he wanted to replicate Sir Chris’ success.
Now Rhys is 15 and is tipped as a future Welsh Commonwealth Games gold medallist and is being mentored by his hero, thanks to SSE.
Rhys said: “The speed and the atmosphere inside the velodrome and the excitement of watching them go round at high speeds got my adrenaline pumping.
“I wondered what it would be like to have a go and asked my dad if he would be willing to take me and he said ‘yes’.”
Six years on, Rhys is part of SSE’s Next Generation programme, which provides vital financial and developmental support to 50 talented young athletes per year across Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland.
The 50 youngsters, aged between 11 and 20, have been identified as potential Commonwealth Games and Olympic medallists of the future.
Alongside training and mentoring support from Sir Chris Hoy and diving Olympic silver medallist Leon Taylor, SSE is giving each of them £1,000 to fund training, travelling to competitions and buying sports equipment.
Under 14s British Omnium champion Rhys is determined to join the ranks of Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins, by winning the coveted yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
As a proud sponsor of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, SSE is investing in more young sport stars like Rhys.
It is urging fans to get behind their nation ahead of the Games and tweet their support using #GoWales, #GoEngland, #GoScotland or #GoNI.
SSE will double its SSE Next Generation programme with every tweet counting towards more athletes on the scheme.