They
say sport stars never lose their competitive spirit and that can
certainly be said for former Great Britain Olympic stalwart Victoria
Pendleton.
The British cycling legend appears to have been itching to get back into competition, and more specifically into a saddle again.Now 34-years-old, Pendleton has begun her intensive training to become a jump jockey, with the goal of competing in the Foxhunter Chase at next year's Cheltenham Festival.
With her change of career funded by bookmakers Betfair, she has been working with National Hunt trainer Paul Nicholls and Team GB's eventing performance manager Yogi Breisner for the project.
It is certainly a big surprise to see Pendleton taking on a serious sporting challenge in a completely different discipline - one which she has no top-level experience in.
But she believes that her natural competitive spirit and mental discipline from securing sprint gold at Beijing in 2008 and the keirin at London 2012 will stand her in good stead.
"I've been looking for a new and exciting challenge, and when they approached me about the opportunity to become a licensed amateur jockey, it captured my imagination," she told the Daily Mirror.
"I’m motivated by the scale of the challenge and the opportunity to combine my love of horses with learning a new skill under the guidance of racing experts put together for me."
Nicholls added: "Having the competitive mindset of an Olympic champion will, I've no doubt, put her in a great place to succeed in this challenge whilst shining a much-deserved light on the sport of horse racing."
It
will certainly be intriguing to see if Pendleton can transfer her
success on the saddle of a bike over to the saddle on a horse.
As
we've revealed in a previous feature, sometimes stars do not make the
most predictable or logical career changes after succeeding in their
original chosen sport - however, we hope Pendleton manages to succeed
yet again.
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