In praise of Bradley Wiggins' mum

[bisjolympics]

She was a single parent after her dh, Bradley's father ran off with another woman when he was 2. What an amazing job she has done. He comes across as such a lovely grounded person. I would be very happy if ds grew up similar.

Being a single parent is such a relentlessly hard job that it is lovely to have a story like this to share.

That's lovely, thanks for sharing

One of the mens gymnastics team was brought up by a single mum too. Gingerbread had a link to an interview with her.

That's really nice.

I think quite a few of them were. I seem to have ready quite a few "this is for my mum" type stories in the good old Evening Standard this week!

I think you could argue that children who learn self-reliance at an early age and who see hard work around them daily may have the tenacity necessary for Olympic achievement. Mine will have the self-reliance and the hard work ethic - just zero talent at this point. Admittedly they've never tried archery or pole vault but I'm not holding my breath!

Bravo Wiggo and Wiggo's mum.

'When his parents separated in 1982, he moved to London with his mother to stay with his maternal grandparents'

so I think the grandparents can bask in some of the credit too

True re GPs. Saying his parents separated makes it sound quite civilised. In fact his parents were living in Belgium, where his father was racing, when his mum went back to London to visit relatives. His father called her to tell her not to bother going back to Belgium as he had moved in with Miss Dortmund. His father supplied drugs to other cyclists and apparently hid them on one occasion smuggled drugs from Australia to Belgium by hiding them in Bradley's nappy.

He comes across as a really shy and pleasant guy. His article in the Guardian about doping was great too.

I like the fact that he's not all media-trained to fuck - he just does what he wants but without making a big show of himself.

Well done WiggoMum and WiggoGrandparents (I also grew up for a time with my gran and mum because my feckless father fucked off and it was a nice time for me.)

Big up to Bradley's mum.

My DCs are the product of my lone parenting and this is inspirational for them too.

Same here. It's lovely to have someone so talented, successful and humble as a role model for those of us with dcs who have no contact with their fathers.

Yellow, would you have the link to the Guardian's article? I would like to read it. Thank you.

Here

had the same feeling reading about his history
(I even google map the estate where he was raised to see if it was a posh estate or a council estate - ref wikipedia maida vale estate)

I did the same feelingsik. His estate is just up the road from where I am now and what's more, the time trials went past the front door of the house where I grew up so I feel fully justified in claiming quite a bit of responsibility for his success.

Many thanks, off to read it now.

Thanks for linking that article. Just confirms what an utterly lovely down to earth bloke he is and how clear and honest his values are.

This - and all those inspirational single parents - deserve a cheeky bump.

Thanks for sharing! Well done to his mum & grandparents

Anthony Agogo beat the World number one and said he just "wants to give his mum a big hug".

So inspiring.

*Ogogo