Gary Wiggins (20 November 1952 – 25 January 2008) was an Australian professional cyclist, who specialised in

six-day racing Six-day cycling is a track cycling event that takes place over six days. Six-day races started in Britain, spread to many regions of the world, were brought to their modern style in the United States and are now mainly a European event. Initiall ...

. His son is the British cyclist, five-time Olympic champion and

2012 Tour de France The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France, Champs ...

winner

Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional Road bicycle racing, road and track cycling, track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but ...

, and his grandson is fellow professional cyclist Ben Wiggins.

Early life

Wiggins was born in

Yallourn Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria, Australia built between 1921 and 1961 to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV), who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station complex. However, expansion of th ...

, Victoria, Australia, in 1952, the younger child, and only son, of Roy Wiggins and his wife. The young Wiggins showed ability in cycling, and participated in cycling competitions around Victoria and Australia, becoming the National Junior Track champion.

Cycling career

Wiggins represented Australia several times at world track championships. He was national champion in the 1 km time trial, and the 4000m team pursuit as part of the Victoria state team. He had a surge of speed at the end of races, which won sprint finishes. Wiggins married as a teenager and had a daughter Shannon, but left his family and Australia for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1974. He raced as an amateur for Archer Road Club in west London. Wiggins met his next wife Linda in England. The couple were living together from 1976; they married in January 1979, before moving to

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, Belgium, to pursue his racing career. Bradley was born there in 1980. The marriage broke down in 1982 and for 14 years Wiggins had no contact with his son, who returned to London with his mother. He raced on the Continent for nine years; during this period he partied hard and had a reputation as a supplier of

amphetamines Substituted amphetamines, or simply amphetamines, are a chemical class, class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative (chemistry), derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substitution reacti ...

to other riders. With Tony Doyle, he rode the Six Day circuit in Europe, in 1985 winning the Bremen Six Day. The same year he won the European Madison championship also with Doyle. He was also successful on the European Kermesse circuit including in 1981 beating Lucien Van Impe at

Eeklo Eeklo () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises only the city of Eeklo proper. The name ''Eeklo'' comes from the cont ...

in Belgium. In Australia in 1985, Wiggins won the Melbourne Cup on Wheels and a 1000-kilometre road race in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Post-cycling life

Wiggins retired from professional cycling and returned permanently to Australia after a crash in Copenhagen in January 1987. Wiggins worked as a housepainter in

Muswellbrook Muswellbrook ( ) is a town in the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle. Geologically, Muswellbrook is situated in the northern parts of the Sydney bas ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, in later years. He remarried and had a second daughter, but this marriage also failed. He struggled with alcohol and drug issues. In his autobiography, Bradley Wiggins described a visit as a teenager with his father prior to the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney, recalling that "Most of his days would consist of buying a couple of crates of VBs ... and steadily drinking himself into a stupor."

Death

On 25 January 2008, Wiggins was found unconscious in Segenhoe Street,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. He was taken to nearby Muswellbrook Hospital before being airlifted to the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, where he died. The coroner's inquest found that the evening before, Wiggins had attended a party at a house in Aberdeen, but soon had fought with the man who lived at the house. He had been thrown to the ground several times and ejected from the party. After some time, he got to his feet and walked away unsteadily, before collapsing less than a mile away. The inquest determined that the cause of death had been a heavy blow to the back of the head. An open verdict on the cause of death was returned, due to lack of evidence: it was not possible to determine whether the head trauma had been received during the fight at the party, or if Wiggins had hit his head in falling. However, the coroner did find that two witnesses, including the party's host, had lied during the inquest. Another witness exercised his right not to give evidence. Wiggins' sister has continued to publicly question the verdict and has requested that the police investigation be reopened. In the wake of Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France win, she renewed her calls for witnesses to Gary Wiggins' last hours to come forward with more information.

Victories

;1976 :10th Chequers Grand Prix ;1977 :8th Tour of Essex ;1979 :3rd Dentergem ;1980 :3rd Belsele :2nd Eeklo :3rd Zele (b) :2nd Sinaai :2nd Petegem-aan-de-Leie :4th Madison,

European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC) ...

;1981 :3rd Beringen :1st Eeklo (b) :1st Melle :4th Circuit Escaut-Durme :6th Omloop van Brecht ;1982 :3rd Dentergem :3rd Westrozebeke ;1983 :3rd Essen :2nd Madison,

:3rd Petegem-aan-de-Leie :1st Madison, Trexlertown (with Brian Tilley) ;1984 :2nd Bremen, Six Days :1st Madison,

(with Tony Doyle) :2nd Six-Days of Grenoble :2nd Ulm :1st Nienburg :2nd Petegem-aan-de-Leie ;1985 :1st Bremen Six (with Tony Doyle) :2nd Madison,

(with Tony Doyle) :3rd München, Six Days :1st Stage 2 Griffin 1000 West :1st Stage 4 Griffin 1000 West ;1986 :2nd Launceston, Six Days

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wiggins, Gary 1952 births 2008 deaths Australian male cyclists Cyclists from Victoria (state) People from Yallourn Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Sportsmen from Victoria (state) 20th-century Australian sportsmen