Sir Bradley Wiggins

Happy Place

Fearne Cotton

Society & Culture, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Relationships, Personal Journals

4.6 • 15.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are you conscious of fear and shame driving your behaviour? Cyclist Bradley Wiggins feels those emotions have dictated a lot of his decision making across his life.

In this chat with Fearne, Bradley explains that putting all his energy into become a great cyclist was a distraction from childhood traumas. In order to cope with the aftermath of being groomed by a coach as a teenager, and having an absent father, he created a larger than life public-facing character. Now, he’s figuring out who he really is, and what he really cares about.

Find out more about NSPCC’s Listen Up Speak Up campaign: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/support-us/listen-up-speak-up/

Join Team Mind for Ride London: https://www.mind.org.uk/get-involved/donate-or-fundraise/take-on-an-active-challenge/cycle-for-mind/2023-ridelondon-essex-100/?bs=1

Content warning: This episode contains frank chat about child abuse, so do take care while listening.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Before we start, this episode contains some chat you might find upsetting,
0:05.2	so do check the show notes for more details if you need.
0:10.0	Hello and welcome to Happy Place with me, Fern Cotton.
0:13.6	This is the show that allows space for personal truths to be voiced and heard.
0:18.7	Today, I'm meeting Sir Bradley Wiggins.
0:21.4	People say, I've shown you a lot of love of cycling.
0:23.8	I was never in love with it. It became a religion.
0:26.7	You don't fall in love with a religion.
0:28.2	You adopted a religion and I adopted a religion of cycling.
0:31.2	And now I've left my face.
0:33.0	You should get back on the bike. You know, it's a shame you lost the love for the bike.
0:36.4	Normal people love cycling. They go out. They love getting the bike.
0:39.0	I can't stand it. I hate cycling really.
0:41.6	They've run the act of riding a bike.
0:43.3	It just gave me, it was a means.
0:45.2	It was to facilitate what I wanted to do in my life.
0:47.9	Cyclist Bradley Wiggins is a Tour de France winner and five times Olympic champion.
0:53.2	The only rider to win both the Tour de France and Olympic gold in the same year.
0:57.8	Bradley is a hugely celebrated athlete, an icon in British sports.
1:02.8	But that legend, Sir Wigggo, was a character of sorts,
1:06.4	a public-facing persona that helped him hide from who he really was
1:10.6	and what he'd been through.
	...

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