SHIFTING GEARS

The Olympic gold medal-winning cyclist Victoria Pendleton tells us how facing the fear and doing it anyway has changed her life

- INTERVIEW: LAURA BENJAMIN

Victoria Pendleton gives everything her all. “I’m way more capable than I thought I was because I used to be so afraid of doing everything,” the former Olympic track cyclist says. “But over the years, I’ve realised that I have more to offer, and I like myself a little bit more.”

It’s this wisdom that Victoria, 43, expresses in her new book, The Fear Opportunity, which offers insights from experts on how to reduce anxiety by reframing your relationship with fear.

She retired from cycling after a triumphant Olympic Games in London in 2012, when she earned three medals—two gold and one silver. She also received a CBE in the 2013 New Year Honours list.

Deciding to try something new, she then retrained as a jockey, finishing fifth in the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham Festival in 2016 despite having had no previous experience.

In 2018—the year that she and Scott Gardner, a former Team GB sports scientist, divorced after ten years together—she fell into severe depression following an abandoned attempt to climb Mount Everest. She recovered with the help of surfing and exercise and is now a patron of The Wave Project, a charity that uses surf therapy to improve mental health.

She is in a relationship with former Special Forces operator Louis Tinsley, whom she met while filming Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins in 2019. In 2023, she announced the death of her adored twin brother, Alex, from cancer at the age of 42.