The first half of British cycling legend Bradley Wiggins is a heart-wrenching story of overcoming the adversity of growing up in a broken family, being abused by his stepfather and sexually abused by his coach, winning five Olympic gold medals and becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France.
When he won his fifth career gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, he was at the peak of his glory and halo, but he was involved in a drug scandal and hurriedly retired in a storm. Fame and pressure pushed him to the brink of depression, often drank heavily, divorced his wife for many years in 2020, and Wiggins has accelerated self-destruction since then - bizarre behavior and controversy, business failure, selling a house to pay off debts and homelessness, rumors of constantly living in friends to comb down, even so he still owes millions of pounds in debt, is unable to repay and is declared bankrupt, and will sell his Olympic gold medal at any time. A generation of national heroes has sunk to the bottom in a few years.
5 British Cycling National Hero of the Olympic Games
Wiggins went from the 2000 Sydney Olympics to the Rio 2016 Olympics, from track cycling to road cycling time trial and then back to track cycling, winning 5 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze and 8 medals for Great Britain at the Olympics, becoming the most Olympic medalist in British history that year, and the record was not broken by another cycling star Kenny until the Tokyo Olympics.
Tour de France overall winner, the first person in Britain
Wiggins made a name for himself in track racing and was successful in road racing in 2005. He became the first British driver to win the Tour de France in 2012, and won gold in the London Road Time Trial on home soil that same year, before being knighted by the Queen a year later. Wiggins, who grew up in Kilburn, north-west London, said at the time: "The kids in Kilburn haven't won an Olympic gold medal or a Tour de France before, and now they do."
Hurriedly retired in the midst of the drug ban turmoil
After winning his fifth career gold medal at Rio de Janeiro 2016, Wiggins was kicked out of two banned drugs between the 2011 Tour de France and the 2013 Giro d'Italia, when his Sky team's medical report was made public.
Because he did not take drugs before 2011 and after 2013 due to respiratory allergies, he was involved in a drug ban scandal for many months, and the outside world questioned that his championship was won by drugs, which overshadowed his reputation and became a turning point in his life. Two months after the banned drug scandal broke, Wiggins announced his retirement in late 2016.
Divorced his wife and lost his spiritual support
Since the outbreak of the drug ban scandal, not only Wiggins has been affected, but his wife at the time, Catherine, may have been affected even more. Wiggins has denied any fault, and the probing into the drug has been so stressful that he has described it as nearly killing his wife.
In his autobiography, published in 2012, Wiggins described Catherine as saving him from a self-destructive, alcohol-filled youth, noting that the other party played a key role in his success, "She was the steady one, always there." She watched me go through good and bad times, ups and downs and great moments. We started together in 2002 and we're already a team." Catherine is the person who knows him best, always by his side to support him, take care of everything for him, and the two have two children, "I can never do anything wrong in her eyes."
Unfortunately, after the banned drug scandal broke, the two reportedly began to quarrel violently. Wiggins claimed that Catherine needed treatment due to stress, and the two finally divorced in 2020, leaving Wigginston without a spiritual support.
A generation of famous players has come to an end
In 2021, he was reported for his bizarre behavior, and was filmed making a fuss at Disneyland Paris with Mickey Mouse, and scolding parents for letting their children walk around. Later, he admitted in an interview that fame and pressure pushed him to the brink of depression and often drank heavily. Earlier this year, he recalled in a BBC documentary, "I had a low ebb in 2019, my wife was suffering from mental illness and I made a big mistake that I couldn't make up."
Wiggins, who did not elaborate on what happened, moved in with another woman, Laura Hartshorne, six months after his divorce from Catherine, and the two had a child, and then separated. After retiring from the army, Wiggins was in debt, and after selling the house to pay off the debt, he still owed nearly a million pounds to the creditor, and was ordered bankrupt by the court. Having lost his career and family, he was rumored to be homeless and took turns living with different friends.
Lawyer: He is penniless
Since he is bankrupt and his assets are being taken over by a trustee, including his trophies and medals, Wiggins may be forced to sell his hard-earned Olympic gold medal to pay off his debts, and his lawyer, Alan Sellers, says bluntly, "He has lost everything, his residential property, his home in Mallorca, his savings and investments. He's penniless, and that's a sad thing."
It is really embarrassing that a generation of British cycling national heroes has fallen to this. The story is not over yet, as it is reported that his ex-wife Catherine has made him live in a semi-detached house in Lancashire, and he is still in love after years of divorce.