British sprinter feeling pressure, but Brailsford expects things to click for London 2012
Faced with the pressure of targeting three events and also dealing with the position of racing on home soil, Victoria Pendleton has admitted that she is not as motivated as she was in the run up to the Beijing Olympics. The Great Britain rider grabbed gold medal in the sprint there, and is trying to be as focussed as London 2012 approaches.
“I am perhaps lacking a little bit of the hunger I felt when approaching the Olympics,” she conceded in a BBC interview. “Aiming towards something you have never seen before, something that seemed so out of your reach, is very different to retaining it or attempting to retain it.
"I know that from the World titles…the first one for me was the most enjoyable, then stepping up with the rainbow stripes on [as the champion] brings a lot of pressure and expectation. I think it is harder to maintain it than it is to achieve it the first time.
Pendleton already articulated the pressure she was feeling when she told the Telegraph last autumn that she was having nightmares. “The fact that I'm already having all these bad dreams about being chased is a bit worrying. I'm always being chased by a monster. Sometimes the monster is a killer or a murderer. It doesn't really matter because I know exactly what that monster is as it hunts me down. The monster's got a big 2012 written all over it.”
Part of that stress is because there are more events for women riders, and consequently more chances for her to try to chase gold. She will line out in the sprint as defending champion, and will also try to top the podium in the team sprint and the Keirin.
“I think having those extra opportunities does bring extra pressure,” she explained. “Having won all three at the world championships before, and being the only female to ever have done so, [means people say] ‘if anyone has a chance, you have, Vic, so just keep pedalling, keep concentrating on your training and keep trying to push forward.’
“There is a lot of expectation and pressure. There are a whole lot of feelings all at once…a whole lot of complicated feelings. You feel excited because it's on home turf, you feel the expectation and you want to please the home crowd, you want to do well on home turf, you want your friends and family to enjoy it. It is daunting and exciting, it is all kinds of things at the same time.
“It is only going to get more and more built-up as we approach and we are going to have to come up with some very good coping strategies.”
Pendleton will try out those three events this coming weekend when she takes part in the Manchester round of cycling’s track World Cup. She will team up with Shanaze Reade (pictured) for the two-woman team sprint, then also aim for gold in the other two events.
The 30 year old explained that the main goal was to build points, with the Great Britain team trying to clock up as many as possible this season so as to take the pressure off for next year. That said, she stated that it is important to support the home World Cups, even if the big season goal of the world championship is not too far away.
Pendleton is engaged and has said that she is likely to retire after the 2012 Games. Until then, she’ll try to be fully motivated and focussed. “Everything will take a backseat for me now until the Olympics is done and dusted,” she said.
Team performance director Dave Brailsford believes that she will be able to get her hunger and focus to the level it needs to be at. “Once Vicky sets her mind on something and locks on to it, she is very difficult to stop,” he stated.