Life's twists and turns are strange. The world of sports is (unfortunately) full of stories of top athletes who find themselves in trouble after their careers end. And life-saving help can come from where you least expect it.
That's what happened to Sir Bradley Wiggins, winner of the 2012 Tour de France and Olympic time trial champion that same year. The British athlete admitted that he faced many challenges when he plunged into ordinary life at the age of 36.
"I always thought people were using me as a doormat because I didn't think much of myself," he said. "When cycling disappeared from my life, the Wiggins veil fell. I had to start working on myself, and I didn't like myself very much."
Wiggins admitted that three years after his career ended, he had become a drug addict. "A lot of it had to do with my childhood. I grew up without a father and my coach, who abused me, was my first male role model in cycling. I was only 13, but it took me through a very dark period," he recalled.
In addition, Wiggins went through personal bankruptcy. "I admit that when I was competing, I didn't pay attention to my finances. It happens to a lot of top athletes, that if you make a lot of money and don't keep an eye on it, people around you take advantage of it. I was being pulled in, left, right and centre. Accountants too."
Wiggins confirmed that he has received treatment and is now free of his addiction, thanks to Lance Armstrong, who was banned from cycling for life for doping, who paid for his therapy.
"I've gotten to know Lance well over the last eight years. He took me to a treatment center and paid for it. He had a similar, fatherless childhood to mine. He told me I couldn't let this all go and you had to deal with it. And Lance did the same thing for Jan Ullrich - all three of us grew up without a father," Wiggins said.
