Team GB Olympic legend Bradley Wiggins has again opened up on his cocaine hell after his retirement, admitting he is unsure how he is still alive.
The Tour de France champion and five-time Olympic gold medallist revealed earlier this year that he had struggled with a drug addiction following his retirement from the sport in 2016.
Wiggins has now admitted he had become a ‘functioning addict’ and had been doing ‘s***loads of cocaine’.
The 45-year-old explained how his children Isabella and Ben, who is part of the British Cycling set-up, had tried to put him into rehab having become concerned over his addiction.
But he has gone into detail on how serious his addiction was, admitting that even his Olympic success came into play.
He told The Times that he lived in a hotel for two weeks taking cocaine, potentially as much as 120 grams, and responded when asked how he didn’t die: ‘I don’t know. I don’t like to think about it.’
‘I raged as I smashed up my 2012 trophy for Sports Personality of the Year and my knighthood, he added. ‘This isn’t success.’
‘I did that in front of my kids. No wonder there were times when they talked about trying to put me in rehab.
‘The desecration of my Olympic medal might have happened away from their gaze but it’s equally sad to reflect on.
‘Hundreds of thousands of people roaring me on, millions more watching at home. One of the great moments of London 2012, and there I am in a wardrobe, snorting cocaine [off my gold medal], mocking my achievement, hating it for what I believed it had brought me.
‘It was the equivalent of p***ing on someone’s grave, and in that moment I was p***ing on my own.
‘The gold medal, the Tour de France, all of it was dead to me. The person I’d been in Paris and London was dead to me too.’
Earlier this year, Wiggins revealed he quit his addiction over a year ago without receiving external assistance.
The 45-year-old had risen to the peak of his fame in 2012 when he became the first British rider to win the Tour de France.
Wiggins, who won five Olympic gold medals from 2004 to 2016, had reportedly built at £13million fortune at the peak of his fame.
However, last year, a company controlled by Wiggins was reported to have debts totalling around £1million.
After failing his individual voluntary agreement (IVA) to pay back the money he owed, was declared bankrupt.
The star was reportedly left homeless and was said to have been sleeping at various addresses including that of his ex-wife, and was believed to have come close to selling his Olympic medals.
