After becoming the first British woman to win the world sprint title in Los Angeles in 2005, track cyclist Victoria Pendleton, 27, has quite a collection of golds, including five in the 2007 and 2008 World Track Championships.

Now the most important target of the Queen of Track Sprinting, the title given by her fans, is to win an Olympic gold next month in Beijing.

"To be the best at something. It's all that I have ever wanted since I was a child, to be really good at something, better than everyone else, and this is my opportunity," Pendleton said earlier.

Born in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, she rode her first race, a 400m event on the grass track at Fordham at the age of 9. Pendleton showed her promise at the age of 13 and was spotted three years later by the assistant national track coach, Marshal Thomas.

At that time she wanted to concentrate on her education, and was later awarded with a degree in Sport and Exercise Science from Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne.

At the 2005 World Championships, Pendleton won her first major medal with a gold in the women's sprint. She became the third British woman to become a cycling world champion in 40 years. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she won a silver in the 500m time trial and a gold in the sprint in Melbourne.

At the 2007 UCI (International Cycling Union) Track World Championships, she won the women's team sprint with Shanaze Reade, the individual gold in the sprint, and a third gold in the Keirin.

She crowned this fantastic year off by being named the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year for 2007, becoming the only cyclist to win the award in its 20-year history.

Pendleton was also voted Sports Journalists' Association of Britain's Sportswoman of the Year for 2007.

Helping her to win those stripes back are numerous people including national sprint coach Iain Dyer, consultant coach and former German star Jan van Eijden and in the gym Mark Simpson of the EIS.