Five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins has revealed that he was sexually groomed by a coach when he was just 13 years old.
Wiggins stressed that he was afraid to talk about this matter with his stepfather who used to beat him and mock him for wearing cycling shorts.
“I was groomed by a coach when I was younger, I was about 13, and I never fully accepted that,” Wiggins told Men’s Health UK.
“It all impacted me as an adult, I buried it.
“My stepfather was quite violent to me, he used to call me a faggot for wearing Lycra and stuff, so I didn’t think I could tell him.
“I was such a loner. I just wanted to get out of the environment. I became so insular. I was quite a strange teenager in many ways and I think the drive on the bike stemmed from adversity.”
Wiggins also discussed about his relationship with his father, Gary Wiggins, who left his family when Bradley was young and died back in 2008 following a fight.
“It was definitely to do with my dad,” added Wiggins.
“Never getting answers when he was murdered in 2008. He left us when I was little, so I met him for the first time when I was 18. We rekindled some kind of relationship but then we didn’t speak for the last couple of years before he was murdered.
“He was my hero. I wanted to prove myself to him. He was a good cyclist – he could have been really good – but he was a wasted talent. He was an alcoholic, a manic depressive, quite violent and he took a lot of amphetamines and drugs back then.”
Mental health issues
Wiggins also opened up about his mental health issues and claimed that training has helped him in his battle against depression.
“I have to have routine,” he noted.
“Training every day, it’s important. Not drinking too much… With my depression, if I’m not looking after myself it manifests more like a mania.
“I always thought of depression as taking you to a dark room in a stoop. I try to be funnier and end up being shocking and contentious.”
Marca
