Victoria Pendleton

It's an utter gift.

It really is.

I'm very grateful for the opportunity.

Yeah, and I really love team sports as well.

So it would have been nice to have a few more team events.

And there are team events on the track now, thankfully, for women.

But when I started, it was very much only individual events.

So, yeah, it is a bit lonely.

But I love being an athlete.

I absolutely loved it.

And it's given me...

such stepping stones to the next most wonderful things that I've experienced in my life.

So I'm, you know, I realise I'm very privileged and I'm very grateful.

When I look back and think of the sacrifices, I am thinking of very willing sacrifices.

Like I knew that my opportunity was short.

Like being an athlete, you never know what's around the corner.

You have to make the most of every day that you have to fulfil that role because an injury or anything can step in the way of an illness.

And then it's all over in the blink of an eye.

So you want to cherish it and really make the most of it.

And I definitely feel I did that.