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Kenny joined the pantheon of Britain’s greatest ever Olympians – matching Sir Chis Hoy’s record with a win in the men’s keirin.

But the final was controversial to say the least – as the man from Bolton could have faced the embarrassment of disqualification had it not been for two data analysts from Team GB.

And the head of British cycling has revealed how struggling officials were considering banning Kenny…before they were shown new footage to save the now six-time gold medallist.

(Image: GETTY) (Image: GETTY/BBC)

It looked as though Kenny had overlapped the pace-making lead bike, meaning his hopes of a sixth medal could have been over.

Fiance Laura Trott and the rest of Britain held its breath as officials agonised over whether to punish Kenny or not.

But staggeringly, it’s now emerged that they did not actually have a side-on camera to prove he had passed the derny.

In stepped Team GB’s Will Forbes and Dr Debs Sides with their own camera to save Kenny’s skin.

(Image: GETTY) (Image: GETTY)

Iain Dyer, Great Britain’s head coach, said: "Normally if they fire the gun and stop the race riders get disqualified, game over.

"I had a little look on our video straight away and it looked really, really close. It wasn’t obvious.

"To think that someone up there was just judging it on the naked eye on the spur of the moment, with millions watching on TV plus the atmosphere in the stadium here…It was quite a big call.

"So I asked the commissaire to show me their footage and what they showed me was a head-on shot.

"They’ve got a camera in turn three looking straight down the back straight.

"So I offered our footage as they didn’t have a camera.

"Our performance analysts Will and Debs are in the gallery there and they are definitely opposite the team pursuit line."

Well the rest, as they say, is history.

Kenny will walk away from Rio with three gold medals and a total of six in his career.