The former winner of the Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins, reported on his extreme drug addiction.
“I took tons of cocaine. I had a really bad problem. My children wanted to send me to a withdrawal clinic. I was like on a wire rope”said Wiggins of the newspaper “The Observer“.
“I was a functioning addict. People didn’t notice it. I was almost always high for years”the five -time Olympic champion reported from the time after the career. There was no middle ground for him. A year ago he got rid of his addiction.
In Great Britain a folk hero
In 2012, Wiggins was the first Brit to win the tour of France and then also won Olympic gold in London in individual time trial. Between 2004 and 2016, he won another four gold medals when driving a train cycling.
Bradley Wiggins in 2012
He was celebrated as an adult hero in his homeland. After his end of his career in 2016, however, it went rapidly downhill with debt and addiction. His autobiography “The Chain“In which he describes his childhood trauma, his turbulent career and his crash, he is said to be released this year.
“I realized that I had a huge problem. I had to stop. I’m glad I was still here. I was the victim of my own decisions for years”added the 45-year-old.
In 2022, Wiggins also reported sexual abuse by a trainer in his youth and depression during his career. “Cycling gave me everything – I wouldn’t be anything without him. But at the same time he took everything to me. I have now learned that I was always driven by fear – in retrospect, I could never enjoy the moment in my career”he said in a podcast.