Top 55 Victoria Pendleton Quotes

I naturally favour a clean, healthy diet. A salad sandwich is one of my favourite meals!

You have to make the mistakes and have those failures in order to learn from them and grow and improve… But for me, the best way to combat any of that beating yourself up or overanalysing, the most important part is always to be prepared to the best of your ability.

I am fighting my natural body shape to do what I do.

I find it hard to act other than the way I feel.

I’m not one for going out on the town on Friday night, as I’ve never been a big drinker, so I like getting the rubbish jobs out of the way so we can enjoy our free time.

Winning is no longer just the outcome. It’s part of the process.

People say, ‘Wow, you’ve achieved it all this year: two world championship wins and an Olympic gold medal.’ And I think, ‘Yeah, but how come I feel so unsatisfied and under pressure all over again?’

I turn left for a living.

It would be great to be recognised for my achievements, but Sports Personality isn’t about that.

I love watching Crufts on the television, especially the agility tests; I find them very impressive.

I quite enjoy sport, and I’m now an Olympic champion. It’s a bit weird, isn’t it?

I used to feel very lonely on the team. The boys would all pair up.

I always feel that most people out there who aren’t sure if the gym is really for them aren’t prepared to pay and find out.

It’s a very unique feeling – to be that strong and unbreakable. But I’m working towards it.

You have to be realistic. I’d love to be more famous, have lots of people supporting me, people knowing my name, but I need a tennis racket or a golf club or to play football. Being a female, I don’t stand a chance.

I’m someone who wears their heart on their sleeve.

I was always cycling for my dad. Then the coaches got bigger, and my results got better. Suddenly, the responsibility grows, and I’m doing it for somebody else, I’m doing it for a programme; I’m doing it for the country. I’m doing it for, like, everybody.

My success has got so great, it’s like I’m trapped, almost, within it.

I go round and round in circles, really, really fast, on a big wooden bowl.

I’ve always been very open with my emotions. Actually, that’s got me into a lot of trouble, too, in the past.

It’s a rare and special feeling to ride a racehorse.

I’ve seen pictures of me, and I look mean and arrogant. That’s how I felt on the inside. I think now, ‘Is that really me?’

I love sport and will do just about anything. Someone said they’d had a go at skiing off a mountain with a parachute, and that sounds great!

As you ride in a steeplechase, and you’re on the horse, going quite fast, you think, ‘That’s quite a big fence…’ But trust the horse, and don’t give him any reason to doubt you.

My best hair care tip would be, choose a range that is right for your hair structure. Working with Pantene has made me realize the importance of this, and it really does make a difference. I have quite thick hair, so I use the Smooth & Sleek range.

I was just, like, all I want to do is be really good at something. Really, really good at something, so people are vaguely impressed by me.

I’ve always been like this – insecure – because I’m striving for something that can’t be attained. I don’t just want to be OK at this: I want to be the best at it, and I’ve never achieved that in my mind.

There’s footage of me bouncing around, all uncoordinated, trying to work out how on earth you’re supposed to do a rising trot on a really extravagant moving eventing horse.

Although, you know it’s been really nice to wear the Olympic kit, I’m looking forward to wearing non-sports, feminine clothes.

To be honest, after you’ve crossed the line at the Olympic Games, it is bedlam for the next, about, five or six hours. Media, press conference, dope control – you might get some food if you’re lucky. You might see family if you’re lucky.

I beat myself up the whole time because I’m striving for something I’ll basically never achieve. I portray this image of confidence, of arrogance, and it’s not really me. I’m never satisfied, and I’m never content. It means I’m a bit of a mess some of the time.

As a teenager, I wanted to look like the early ’90s curvy supermodels. Even in my early 20s, I always said as soon as I retired from cycling, I’d get a boob job.

I’ve been told from the start, ‘Don’t fall in love with the horses’. But that’s so hard. I’m in awe.

Winning the gold medal should have been the happiest day of my entire life, and it just wasn’t. It felt like the saddest day of my life. Everyone was so angry with us, that Scott and I had fallen in love, because it was so unprofessional, and we were a disgrace and had betrayed everybody.

I compete in a sport on an individual basis, but I have never done it for me.

I think I might become a pescatarian. I love sushi, couldn’t give it up.

I used to wear miniskirts with my GB top, and sparkly sandals, and the boys would be like: ‘Oh my gosh, this girl cannot be serious.’

People will put restrictions on your ability, on your aptitude, on your talent, on your character, and to be honest, it’s just opinion. Don’t let anyone put you in a box or draw your path for you.

I was put on a pony as a kid at some birthday party when you’re all led around.

Being a track sprinter, when it’s all about a thousandth of a second, there is no escaping the numbers every single day.

The sponsorship offers have been amazing. I have to turn down a lot.

Even though I’ve won numerous titles and an Olympic gold medal, there are still so many faults in my performance that I can honestly hardly bear to watch the videos back.

Apparently, I have such a serious race face, even when I’m doing a bit of work, at first everybody wasn’t sure if I was enjoying it or not. But it’s absolutely exhilarating. It feels like you’re one with your horse and you’re flying.

I just want to prove that I am really good at something. And I haven’t quite done that yet – at least not to myself. I know I could ride so much better, with more ease, with more finesse. I feel I’m nowhere near as good as I should be.

I normally don’t listen to my instincts because I’m so full of doubt.

Eating vegetarian in the past would have been a really bad choice as an athlete. Impossible. Just being able to get the amount of protein in was a mission. You couldn’t be picky. I feel quite liberated by the fact that I can now quite recklessly choose vegetarian food.

People may think I’m crazy, but one of the ways I like to wind down my Friday is to get some of our household chores done, whether it’s cleaning or doing a big food shop, so the house is all nice for the weekend.

I like heels and make-up.

I’ve always been very fond of animals.

As a kid growing up – I can see now – it didn’t matter what I did, as long as it was something I could be really good at. Cycling just happened to be the opportunity that came along.

I come from a cycling background. I happened to be good at it; the opportunities came my way. It wasn’t something I necessarily searched to be involved in; it wasn’t a dream. I just had an opportunity which you couldn’t refuse.

It’s an evolution. The same team doesn’t always dominate, and it goes in cycles.

As you get older, you get more accepting – although, if you asked me whose body I would want, I would say Jess Ennis’s at the Olympics.

I’m not the perfect model of what an athlete should be, mentally or physically.

I often felt that I didn’t train and race enough team sprint to get it right. You need to know that you’ve got a place to have that continuity of results. Am I in? Am I out of this one? That’s tough.