Pendleton 'looking forward' to show

Victoria Pendleton has revealed she has "no expectations" of being crowned winner of Strictly Come Dancing as she prepared to take her first ballroom steps.

The golden girl of British cycling, who won gold and silver medals at the London 2012 Olympics, admitted that she has no dancing experience as she swapped the track for the dancefloor.

Shimmying onto the sequin-covered red carpet in a gold dress with her medals in hand for the show's launch at BBC TV Centre in west London, the 31-year-old said: "I'm so excited. I'm really looking forward to it, even the training.

"There are no expectations so I'm just going to give it my best shot and see how far I go. I haven't had any dance experience so I'm not expecting to get too far ahead."

Victoria was joined by her fellow Team GB sportsman, medal-winning gymnast Louis Smith. "After the Olympics I had a bit of down time but to come out for this, what a year," he said.

Despite his gymnastics background, he admitted dancing is out of his comfort zone. "It's going to be a massive challenge, it's tough," he said. "I've already been training for a couple of days and I ache in places I don't usually ache and I train six days a week for gymnastics."