Olympic Gold Medallist cyclist, Victoria Pendleton announced her retirement from competitive track cycling in 2012 after winning the keirin at the London 2012 Olympics and had set a new Olympic record of 10.724 seconds in the qualifiers for the individual sprint. But in the final she lost to her arch rival Anna Meares earning her a silver medal. This was her final competitive race.
Victoria was talent spotted at the age of sixteen, by assistant national track team coach Marshall Thomas but despite his efforts to encourage her to train, she decided to concentrate on education. While at University she started to train for track sprinting, inspired by the Olympic gold medal success of Jason Queally, at the Sydney Olympic Games.
In 2002 she competed at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, finishing fourth in the sprint. She again came fourth in the sprint at the 2003 World Championships in Stuttgart and the 2004 World Championships in Melbourne.
She ranked 2nd overall in the World Cup for the sprint in 2004, winning the World Cup event in Manchester.
At the 2004 Olympics, she finished sixth in the time trial and ninth in the women's 200m sprint. At the 2005 World Championships, she won gold in the women's sprint making her the third British woman cycling World Champion in 40 years.
In Melbourne at the 2006 Commonwealth Games she won silver in the 500m time trial and gold in the sprint. The 2007 UCI Track World Championships saw her win the team sprint with Shanaze Reade, the individual gold in the women's sprint, and gold in the women's Keirin. She crowned the year by being named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year for 2007 and was the first cyclist to win the award in its 20-year history. Victoria was also voted Sports Journalists' Association of Great Britain's sportswoman of the year for 2007.
In the build-up to the 2008 Olympics she won two gold medals at the UCI Track World and came second in the women's keirin and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Pendleton won the gold medal in the Women's Individual Sprint Event.
Victoria was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours and in that year retained her world sprint title at the UCI Track World Championships in Pruszków.
At the 2011 World Championships Pendleton won a silver and bronze medal in the team sprint and sprint and finished seventh in the keirin.
Post 2012 Olympics Victoria has enjoyed some high profile media, including taking part in Strictly Come Dancing and received a CBE in the 2012 New Year Honours List.
"Lovely girl for whom nothing was too much trouble...she was happy chatting to everyone and showing off her medal...really pleased with the day, we couldn't have asked for more"
ContiTech Beattie on Victoria Pendleton - September 2009