Gary Wiggins (cyclist)

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Gary Wiggins (born November 20, 1952 in Yallourn near Latrobe City in Victoria , Australia , † January 23, 2008 in Newcastle , New South Wales ) was an Australian cyclist .

Youth and beginnings as a cyclist

Gary Wiggins was born in Yallourn, a drab housing estate 90 miles from Melbourne ; it only served to accommodate workers from the nearby coal mine . (The settlement was abandoned in the late 1960s , parallel to the dismantling of the large power stations; Yallourn W [est] power station was created later.) Sport was one of the few opportunities to pass the time or even make a career outside of town. Wiggins did cycling and boxing . In 1974 he went to Great Britain with his first wife and daughter to try his luck at track races there - like many other Australian racing drivers .

Athletic career

In Great Britain, Wiggins joined the renowned Archer's Cycling Club in Herne Hill , who trained on the local velodrome . There he was noticed by a scout who particularly looked after cyclists from Australia and New Zealand . As a result, Wiggins successfully drove amateur races on the track and on the road.

In 1978, Gary Wiggins turned pro . He was mainly successful as a six-day driver in Europe and started a total of 73 races, one of which he was able to win, in 1985 in Bremen with Tony Doyle . He was on the podium with numerous others. In 1984 he and Doyle became European champions in two-man team driving, in 1983 and 1985 the two drivers took second place together. In January 1987 Wiggins drove his last six-day race, in Bremen.

Private and family

In 1980 his son Bradley Wiggins , later British world and Olympic champion and winner of the 2012 Tour de France, was born in Ghent . Bradley Wiggins, who characterizes his father with a mixture of admiration and contempt in his autobiography, says: “I definitely wasn't part of the master plan.” He also writes: “Garry had earned the nickname 'Doc' on the circuit - I will let you draw your own conclusions - and not only used amphetamines but also dealt. “The intense abuse of doping substances and alcohol had a lasting negative influence on his character and behavior, so he hit his wife.

In 1982 the father left the family and returned to Australia. In total, he was married three times and divorced three times. His English wife went to Great Britain with the children; Father and son had no contact for 14 years. In the following years Gary Wiggins got by with various jobs, opened a pub in Bremen and went bankrupt, and had a massive alcohol problem. In 2008, Wiggins was found unconscious on the street in Aberdeen after being knocked down. He was flown to the hospital in a rescue helicopter, where he died of severe head injuries. The circumstances of his death remained unclear.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Bradley Wiggins: In Pursuit of Glory . Orion 2009.
  2. ↑ The European championships before the founding of the "European Cycling Union" (UEC) in 1995 are considered unofficial, since up to this point they were usually invitation races in which non-European riders like Wiggins could also take part.
  3. ↑ Haunted by Aberdeen death on theherald.com.au v. January 25, 2011 (Engl.)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wiggins, Gary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Yallourn
DATE OF DEATH January 23, 2008
Place of death Newcastle