Page 22 - atoday

A22 SPORTS
Thursday 29 december 2016
Former Tour de France champ Wiggins retires from cycling

STEVE DOUGLAS Wiggins’ father, Gary, was 2008 after struggling with
AP Sports Writer making a living in Belgium alcohol and drug addic-
Bradley Wiggins an- as a professional cyclist tion, Wiggins had to over-
nounced his retirement when Bradley was born in come drinking problems af-
from cycling on Wednes- the country. A hard-drink- ter his early successes in the
day, ending an illustrious ing Australian, Gary left his velodrome. He wrote in his
career in which he won a English wife and son when autobiography that he suf-
British-record eight Olympic Bradley was two years fered from depression after
medals and became his old, with Bradley moving the Athens Olympics and
country’s first winner of the to London where he lived indulged in binge drinking
Tour de France. on a working-class estate. as he struggled to cope
The 36-year-old Wiggins Wiggins took to cycling at with his celebrity status.
posted a statement on his 12 and collected his first “Apparently it’s a well-
Facebook and Instagram Olympic medal eight years known phenomenon, but
pages, alongside a picture later at the Sydney Games, Olympic gold medalists
of his collected race jer- winning bronze in the team usually only lose the plot
seys, medals and trophies. pursuit. He added three for a month or so,” Wiggins
“I have been lucky enough more in Athens in 2004, with wrote. “My bender (drink-
to live a dream and fulfil gold, silver and bronze in ing) after winning three
my childhood aspiration of In this Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016 file photo, former Tour de France three different events, be- medals, including my first
making a living and a ca- winner and Olympic Gold medalist Britain’s Bradley Wiggins coming the first British ath- gold, in Athens in August
reer out of the sport I fell in greets spectators prior to competing in the six day race at the lete in 40 years to win three 2004 lasted a good eight
love with at the age of 12,” Kuipke velodrome in Ghent, Belgium, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016. medals at a single Olym- or nine months and I wasn’t
Wiggins wrote. Associated Press pics. quite right for at least a
“2016 is the end of the road his Tour triumph amid a joy- strong corticosteroid days Wiggins had more success year... For a while my life
for this chapter, onwards ful atmosphere described before three big races, in- at the 2008 Beijing Games, threatened to spiral out of
and upwards.” as “Wiggomania” by the cluding the 2012 Tour. winning gold in the team control.”
Wiggins is Britain’s most British press. A lanky ath- Wiggins’ treatment was ap- and individual pursuits. Wiggins pulled himself to-
decorated Olympian with lete with a strong appetite proved by cycling authori- After shedding some gether after the birth of his
five golds in a haul of eight for fine clothing and British ties and there has been no weight, Wiggins realized son, Ben, in March 2005,
medals across five games, rock music, Wiggins was suggestion any rules have during the 2009 Tour that he and had a daughter a year
capped this year when he subsequently honored with been broken over the TUEs. was capable of competing later with his wife, Cath-
led the British pursuit team a knighthood by Queen But the revelations cast a for the overall win, achiev- erine.
to victory at the Rio de Ja- Elizabeth II. shadow over one of the ing his best-ever finish with “What will stick with me
neiro Games. In recent months, he has strongest advocates of the a fourth place. He crashed forever,” Wiggins wrote in
The summer of 2012 was the found himself under scruti- anti-doping fight. out of the Tour with a frac- his retirement statement,
pinnacle of Wiggins’ ca- ny for his use of therapeutic Both Wiggins and Team tured collarbone in 2011 “is the support and love
reer, when he completed use exemptions (TUEs) ear- Sky, his former team, have and fulfilled his dream of from the public through
a rare double by winning lier in his career, after hack- denied any wrongdoing winning cycling’s most gru- thick and thin, all as a result
the time trial at the Lon- ers leaked that he got in- over the rider’s approved eling race a year later. of riding a pushbike for a
don Olympics soon after tramuscular injections of a use of the treatment. Like his father, who died in living.”q

Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic

retires from tennis at 29

LONDON (AP) — Ana Iva- no longer do that,” she A finalist at Roland Garros
novic is retiring from tennis said. “So it’s time to move in 2007 and the Australian
at age 29, ending a career on.” Open in 2008, Ivanovic
in which she was ranked Ivanovic became a UNI- lost in the first round of this
No. 1 in 2008 but can no CEF national ambassador year’s U.S. Open to 89th-
longer play at the highest for Serbia in 2007 and says ranked Denisa Allertova
level because of injuries. that position will figure in of the Czech Republic. It
In a live broadcast on her plans. was her second consecu-
Facebook, Ivanovic said “I will become an ambas- tive exit in the first round at
Wednesday “it was a dif- sador of sport and healthy Flushing Meadows.
ficult decision, but there life. I will also explore op-
is so much to celebrate.” portunities in business, Ivanovic announced a In this Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016 file photo, Ana Ivanovic from Ser-
The Serb won 15 tour titles, beauty and fashion among week later she would take bia celebrates after she beat Daria Gavrilova from Australia
during the second day of the Dubai Tennis Championships in
including the 2008 French other endeavors,” she said the rest of the season off Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Open, and is now ranked on her Facebook page. “I because of wrist and toe Associated Press
No. 63. will also have more time for injuries, saying she had a
“It’s been well-known that my philanthropic activities recurring wrist injury and “Ana is a true champion on the tour’s website. “She
I’ve been hampered by in- with my work with UNICEF. would also have surgery and a great ambassador has contributed greatly
juries. ... I can only play if I I’ve lived my dreams and I on a toe she broke at the for the sport of women’s to the entire sport, both in
can perform up to my own really hope to help others Australian Open in January tennis,” WTA CEO Steve her home country of Serbia
high standards and I can do so as well.” 2015. Simon said in a statement and across the globe.”q