Sir Bradley Wiggins has paid an emotional tribute to fellow multiple medal-winning cyclist Chris Hoy – saying the way he’s handled his terminal cancer will help a lot of people.
Wiggins also hailed Sir Chris as “one of the greatest” – both as a person and as a sportsman.
Father-of-two Hoy, who received a prognosis of two to four years, revealed his prostate cancer diagnosis this year, and has put on a positive outlook as he sees it as a time to adapt and look for opportunity.
The six times gold medalist, 48, urged people to “find positivity in each day without worrying about stuff that hasn’t happened yet”, adding “if you can spread the word and sort of get people to apply it to their own lives, hopefully you can help some people.”
Now five times Olympic gold winner Wiggins, 44, has described how the news hit him and the cycling world in a glowing tribute.
He said: “That hit everyone quite hard that, and those of us that know Chris know what an absolute gentleman he is, what a heart of gold.
“The worst things happen to the best people – and he truly is a great, great person.
“I spent all my Olympic career with Chris. When we were young, I remember sitting in dope control in Athens, where we both won gold – he won the first night, I won the second night – and he was sat there in dope control having just won the kilometre and he was going ‘Do you want to touch my medal?’
“And I said ‘No, Chris, I’m going to try and win mine tomorrow night’. I thought it would give me bad luck.
“And he was the first person who congratulated me when I won mine in Athens – came across the pen – and when I won my fifth in Rio he was there with Steve Redgrave at a BBC interview.”
Wiggins added in an interview released tomorrow (Mon, Dec 2) on the High Performance podcast: “It’s tragic, it really is.
“He’s one of our greatest in many ways, not just on the bike. Because what I think he’s doing, and the way he’s handled it, is going to help a lot of people.
“And his lasting legacy is going to be infinite.”