Four years ago, in a Greek heat wave, Victoria Pendleton wilted. Yesterday in Beijing, she shone, as she made up for the bitter disappointment of the Athens Games with victory in the women's individual sprint at the Laoshan velodrome.

Pendleton, three times a world champion in the individual sprint, fulfilled her Olympic ambitions, comfortably beating Anna Meares, of Australia, in the final. “It doesn't even feel real,” the 27-year-old from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, said. “Everything went to plan but after the success of the team I felt it might be too much to ask.”

Pendleton, who set an Olympic record on Sunday in qualifying for the final, dominated the women's sprints every pedal stroke of the way. She needed only two matches to defeat Meares in the best-of-three final.

Yet although she had never looked in trouble in the competition, she admitted that she had felt intense pressure as Team GB's medal tally grew and she watched riders such as Nicole Cooke, Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins from the sidelines.

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“Absolutely,” Pendleton, whose final was the penultimate event at the velodrome, said. “Watching on the TV all week back in the Olympic village has been really emotional for me. I was so proud. I was in tears before the keirin heats even started. I was an absolute mess just because I wanted to do it, too. I didn't feel a real member of the team until I got my medal.

“I tried not to think about gold, because in the sprint competition it's not necessarily the fastest who wins. It comes down to tactics. You can't take anything for granted. That's why the event is as hard as it is.”

Pendleton's growing nerves as she awaited yesterday's sprint final were calmed by the longstanding relationship she had built with Steve Peters, the Team GB psychiatrist. “I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for Steve Peters,” she said.

Four years ago in Athens, Pendleton suffered a near collapse when faced with competing in the Olympic arena. Peters, a former psychiatrist at the Rampton secure hospital, has since played a key role in turning her into a clinical finisher.

“It's been a big focus for me,” she said. “I wanted it so badly. I'd beaten everyone in the field so I had to come in here. There was a lot of expectation. I felt like I didn't even have an option. I didn't even allow myself to think about winning or failing.”

The pressure was even greater on Pendleton than on Hoy and Wiggins, because unlike the World Championships in Manchester in the spring, she had only one hope of winning gold. “In the World Championships, I had four events,” she said. “It's tough when the men have three events and I have one. This was my one chance and it's the most risky of the three.

“The fact that the men have seven medals on the track and we only have three - I think that's sick, to be honest. I think something really needs to be done. It's just not fair. It wouldn't happen in other sports like swimming or athletics.”

Pendleton's victory was among the most consummate of a Team GB track racing campaign littered with superlative performances. “Because the level of the team is so high, you have to contend with that in the training sessions,” she said. “They are so competitive, it's just moving everyone on to a new level.”