Latest news with #cocaineaddiction
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Sport
- RNZ News
Wiggins credits recovery from addiction to Lance Armstrong's support
Photo: KRISTOF VAN ACCOM Five-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins said that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has played a key role in his recovery from cocaine addiction, saying he feels "indebted" to the American. Last month former Tour de France winner Wiggins said he became addicted to cocaine after his retirement from the sport in 2016 and was "lucky" after getting sober a year ago. The 45-year-old described Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, as a "great strength and inspiration" after receiving his support since ending his career. "Lance has been very, very good to me. That's not something everyone wants to hear because people only like to hear the bad stuff," Wiggins said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday. "It's on a human level. You can only take someone how they treat you. "Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help towards me and is one of the main factors why I'm in this position I am today mentally and physically, so, I'm indebted to him for that." Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012 and collected a then-British record eight Olympic medals, including gold in the time trial at the 2012 London Games. He is now collaborating on Armstrong's podcast The Move , where they will be covering this summer's Tour de France, and said their relationship has been grounded in mutual understanding beyond cycling. In December last year, Wiggins said Armstrong had offered to fund his therapy for mental health issues. - Reuters
CNA
4 days ago
- Sport
- CNA
Britain's Wiggins says he owes recovery from addiction to Armstrong's support
Five-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins said that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has played a key role in his recovery from cocaine addiction, saying he feels "indebted" to the American. Last month former Tour de France winner Wiggins said he became addicted to cocaine after his retirement from the sport in 2016 and was "lucky" after getting sober a year ago. The 45-year-old described Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, as a "great strength and inspiration" after receiving his support since ending his career. "Lance has been very, very good to me. That's not something everyone wants to hear because people only like to hear the bad stuff," Wiggins said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday. "It's on a human level. You can only take someone how they treat you. "Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help towards me and is one of the main factors why I'm in this position I am today mentally and physically, so, I'm indebted to him for that." Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012 and collected a then-British record eight Olympic medals, including gold in the time trial at the 2012 London Games. He is now collaborating on Armstrong's podcast The Move, where they will be covering this summer's Tour de France, and said their relationship has been grounded in mutual understanding beyond cycling. In December last year, Wiggins said Armstrong had offered to fund his therapy for mental health issues.
Reuters
4 days ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Britain's Wiggins says he owes recovery from addiction to Armstrong's support
June 6 (Reuters) - Five-time Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins said that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has played a key role in his recovery from cocaine addiction, saying he feels "indebted" to the American. Last month former Tour de France winner Wiggins said he became addicted to cocaine after his retirement from the sport in 2016 and was "lucky" after getting sober a year ago. The 45-year-old described Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping, as a "great strength and inspiration" after receiving his support since ending his career. "Lance has been very, very good to me. That's not something everyone wants to hear because people only like to hear the bad stuff," Wiggins said in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday. "It's on a human level. You can only take someone how they treat you. "Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help towards me and is one of the main factors why I'm in this position I am today mentally and physically, so, I'm indebted to him for that." Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France in 2012 and collected a then-British record eight Olympic medals, including gold in the time trial at the 2012 London Games. He is now collaborating on Armstrong's podcast The Move, where they will be covering this summer's Tour de France, and said their relationship has been grounded in mutual understanding beyond cycling. In December last year, Wiggins said Armstrong had offered to fund his therapy for mental health issues.
CBC
13-05-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Cycling champion Bradley Wiggins says he was a cocaine addict and is 'lucky' to be alive
Former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins has revealed he became addicted to cocaine after retiring from cycling. In an interview with British newspaper The Observer, the five-time Olympic gold medalist said he is "lucky" to be alive. "There were times my son thought I was going to be found dead in the morning," the 45-year-old Wiggins said. "I was a functioning addict. People wouldn't realize. I was high for most of the time for years." The British cyclist was a gold medalist in four straight Olympics from 2004 and won the Tour in 2012. He retired in 2016. In 2022, he made an allegation in an interview with Men's Health UK magazine that he was sexually groomed by a coach, whose name he did not reveal, when he was 13 years old. In a soon-to-be-published autobiograph, The Chain, Wiggins detailed how his life spiraled into a cycle of debt and addiction after retirement from the sport. Wiggins told the Observer his cocaine addiction became a "really bad problem" and he was "walking a tightrope." He quit his addiction a year ago, the newspaper said. "I already had a lot of self-hatred, but I was amplifying it," he said. "It was a form of self-harm and self-sabotage. It was not the person I wanted to be. I realized I was hurting a lot of people around me."
National Post
13-05-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Cycling champion Bradley Wiggins says he was a cocaine addict and is 'lucky' to be alive
Former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins has revealed he became addicted to cocaine after retiring from cycling. Article content In an interview with British newspaper The Observer, the five-time Olympic gold medalist said he is 'lucky' to be alive. Article content 'There were times my son thought I was going to be found dead in the morning,' the 45-year-old Wiggins said. 'I was a functioning addict. People wouldn't realize. I was high for most of the time for years.' Article content Article content The British cyclist was a gold medalist in four straight Olympics from 2004 and won the Tour in 2012. He retired in 2016. Article content In 2022, he made an allegation in an interview with Men's Health UK magazine that he was sexually groomed by a coach — whose name he did not reveal — when he was 13 years old. Article content In a soon-to-be-published autobiography, The Chain, Wiggins detailed how his life spiraled into a cycle of debt and addiction after retirement from the sport. Article content Wiggins told the Observer his cocaine addiction became a 'really bad problem' and he was 'walking a tightrope.' He quit his addiction a year ago, the newspaper said. Article content
