'Absolutely exhausting' Victoria Pendleton recalls Strictly run five days after Olympics

express.co.uk:

Strictly Come Dancing in 2012, just a mere five days after she had competed in the Olympics.The sports star is one of the most successful female Olympians, gaining gold and silver at the London games.Victoria was partnered with Brendan Cole on the show and made it to week eight, being eliminated for her salsa.Speaking to Express.co.uk Victoria said: "I found it absolutely exhausting."I started training for Strictly I think five days after the Olympics had finished in 2012."I was emotionally, physically, mentally exhausted.

I didn’t honestly know where I was going or what I was doing or who I was anymore."It had been such a whirlwind of 12 months."Due to how exhausted she was, Victoria recalled how learning dance moves took her longer.She continued: "Brendan would be telling me to do something and I would have to ask him to repeat it."He would be like ‘oh my goodness, seriously’ and I would just be like ‘I’m so tired, I’m so sorry, I can’t take it all in’."There were a few accidents during training, due to how "clumsy" the pair were together.Victoria said: "The pair of us are fairly clumsy so we had a few accidents in training and in rehearsals where he would tread on my skirt and trip over and squash me."Just a few scrapes and bruises in training."Victoria has represented Great Britain and England internationally in cycling, winning many titles.She won nine world titles, including a record six in the individual sprint, dominating the event between 2005 and 2012.In 2008 she won the sprint in the Beijing Olympics, and in 2012, she won the gold medal in the keirin at the London Olympics, as well as silver in the sprint.The retired athlete is currently supporting the launch of Slimfast vitality shakes that are packed with 23.