Former Olympic cycling champion Victoria Pendleton has revealed she considered taking her own life last summer.

The 38-year-old has previously spoken about her mental health issues and, in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, has given a graphic account of how matters deteriorated.

Pendleton, who retired from cycling after winning gold at the London 2012 Olympics, was diagnosed with severe depression after returning home from an aborted charity climb of Mount Everest.

“I had accumulated one-and-half times the dose of drugs to kill myself,” she said. “And I had it there, in front of me, and I knew how much it would take. And how long I would have to be left for it definitely to work. It wasn’t even like I was really upset about it. I just felt numb.

“I felt horribly guilty for even considering it [killing herself]. I said to my mum: ‘Please would you forgive me [if I killed myself]?’ Obviously, it was very upsetting for her to hear that. But I really wanted my family to be able to forgive me. Because ... I wouldn’t do it to hurt them on purpose. You just can’t understand how much I was suffering on the inside.”

After suffering a panic attack at a friend’s house, Pendleton sought help. She also turned to former British Cycling psychiatrist, Steve Peters, who she telephoned during her darkest moment.

“It must have been about 6.30am,” she said. “I had been awake for hours. I remember lying there with tears rolling down the side of my face. Not really crying, but just feeling a sense of hopelessness. I was so low. So helpless.

“And I just thought: ‘I don’t want to see tomorrow’. I’m so grateful that he [Peters] picked up. Because I don’t think I would be here if he hadn’t.”

Pendleton moved in with her mother in Hertfordshire for a time and a subsequent holiday in France made her feel she had “turned a corner”, before she embarked on a surfing trip to Costa Rica.

“I guess it was a very unconventional thing to do,” she added. “It was against the recommendation of my family and almost everyone else. They were like ‘you’re going to travel by yourself. Be on your own. If you feel bad who is going to be there for you?’

“But I just really wanted to do it. To try to find my own way through it. I came back from Costa Rica feeling 50% better.”

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.