I was ‘too old’ for cycling at 30, says golden girl Victoria
AS one of the golden girls of London 2012, Victoria Pendleton was a national hero.
But the cyclist said she was forced to retire from the sport at 30 because she was ‘too old’.
The athlete won gold and silver at the London Olympics, following a gold in the Beijing Games in 2008 – but her treatment in the wake of the success is clearly still a sore point.
Speaking about her retirement at Countryfile Live in Oxfordshire yesterday, Miss Pendleton, now 37, said: ‘They told me I was too old. Basically they thought in four years’ time I wouldn’t be able to be better than I was at London, and I needed to be better in order to be competitive apparently. Aged 30.’ Confirming it was due to funding reasons, she added: ‘That’s exactly it and they had some really strong talent coming through the team, younger girls that they thought had ten years more left in their career and those are the ones that they wanted to invest in.
‘I can’t be too selfish and greedy about it. I had a really good run. Nobody wants to be told [they have to retire], especially not [at] 30. It sucks, there’s so much more life to live.’ Explaining how she coped with being forced to quit, she said: ‘I did Strictly Come Dancing…which was great fun. I kind of just tried to immerse myself in doing so many different things to try and get an idea of what I could do next.’ She also gained her jockey licence and came fifth at the 2016 Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham. She now wants to learn to surf or dabble in motorsports.