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Great Britain cyclist Victoria Pendleton reveals the “burying pressure” she felt
Posted By John Henderson On August 8, 2012 @ 4:19 am In Cycling,John Henderson,Olympics | No Comments
Britain's Victoria Pendleton is pictured after losing the gold medal to Australia's Anna Meares in the London 2012 Olympic Games women's sprint final cycling event at the Velodrome in the Olympic Park in East London on August 7, 2012.
Track cyclist Victoria Pendleton is one of the biggest stars in the country. The 31-year-old pinup girl appears in costmetic ads looking like a runway model on a bike. She’s posed nude on her bike and in other sultry getups. She earned it. She won Olympic gold in the sprint in Beijing and is a six-time world sprint champion, including last year.
But Tuesday night, she lost to arch-rival Anna Meares from Australia. In the first of the best two-out-of-three final, Pendleton was called for obstruction and had her victory reversed. Then in Race 2, she fell for Meares ploy to stop high up on the track until Pendleton lost patience and moved ahead. Meares drove off her draft and won easily.
“This has been the hardest four years of my life,” Pendleton said. “The pressure was so burying, being the defending Olympic champion and trying to maintain that. I couldn’t go through it again. If you paid me a million pounds I’d say I can’t do that again.”
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