Bradley Wiggins, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and Tour de France winner, revealed to the British newspaper The Sun that he had a challenging relationship with his father, and some harsh words truly propelled him in his cycling career.
The 43-year-old cyclist is one of the most successful athletes in the United Kingdom, having earned five Olympic gold medals as well as the Tour de France title in 2012. Although Wiggins has enjoyed a hugely successful career, his father Gary did not believe it would happen.
Childhood friction with his father.
The duo had a challenging relationship. Gary, also a former professional cyclist, was absent for much of Bradley’s childhood. He reappeared only when Bradley was a teenager, wanting to be a part of his growing success.
As quoted by The Sun in a BBC documentary, Wiggins revealed, “He called my grandma’s house because he wanted to be part of the success and make up for all those years, and then I met him two years later when I was 19.”
Peço desculpas pela confusão. Aqui está a tradução para inglês do texto fornecido:
“You will never be as good as your old man.”
“He had no money and came to Belgium for a race I was doing, and I’ll never forget it. In fact, it was probably the toughest day of my life, meeting him.
“Within a week, he told me, ‘You’ll never be as good as your old man.’ Some kind of jealousy crept in. To this day, I remember clearly where I was when he said that.
“I was in the center of the track in Ghent, Belgium. I had a good performance on the track, and everyone was cheering for me. I was shining. And he couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t deal with the attention on me.”
“He told me, ‘Just don’t forget, you’ll never be as good as your old man.’ He squeezed my arm and got close enough to me so no one else could hear.”
“It was a pretty scary experience. From that day on, there was a long-standing desire to be better than him. That’s what drove me in 2012,” concluded the former Olympic, World, and Tour de France champion from 2012.
