Australia's Anna Meares has said that she went into this summer's Commonwealth Games just wanting to have fun, rather than being weighed down by the expectation on her shoulders.
Meares had won four gold medals on the track at the Commonwealth Games going into Glasgow, and a fifth in the 500m time trial this evening saw her overtake Kathy Watt as the most successful female Australian track cyclist of all time.
However, despite being touted as a heavy favourite ahead of the event, which she also won in the 2006 and 2010 Games, Meares insists that she had blocked out all of the pressure from external sources.
"I've heard a lot about external expectation and whether I'll be able to perform... it's been a bit of a tough time," Meares told reporters.
"I wanted to come here and have fun, and worrying about expectation and what everyone else thought is not going to be conducive to that, so I just ran with my coach Gary West and whatever he was telling me in my inner circle and everyone else can do their own thing."
As one of the senior members of the squad, others look to Meares for inspiration and guidance, but she was quick to point out that men's sprint duo Matthew Glaetzer and Peter Lewis more than played their part in setting the tone with superb qualifying performances in the opening event of the day.
"I don't think I led by example, I think that was down to the two boys this morning - Matty Glaetzer and Pete Lewis - their exceptional flying 200m this morning. I was sat on the couch screaming at the TV at how phenomenal that performance was," she added.
Meares pipped compatriot Stephanie Morton and England's Jess Varnish to the gold medal at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.
Barney Corkhill
