91Èȱ¬

Cycling (time trial, road race, team pursuit)

Born: 28/04/80

Career highlights

In 2004, Wiggins became the first British athlete for 40 years to win three medals at one Olympics. He added two more golds in Beijing and then came fourth in the 2009 Tour de France, equalling the previous best by a British rider.

He says the road time trial is his priority at the 2012 Olympics.

Other career

He has been on the professional road racing circuit since 2001 and gave up track racing in 2009 to concentrate on the Tour de France. But the 2010 Tour de France was a disappointment, with Wiggins only finishing 24th.

He says he was subsequently given a dressing down about his attitude from Dave Brailsford, the British Cycling performance manager and Team Sky principal. It worked - Wiggins made a winning return to the track with the British pursuit team in a World Cup meeting in early 2011 and then added his first British road race title. However, he subsequently crashed out of the Tour de France with a broken collarbone.

Personal

Wiggins was born in Belgium, where his Australian dad Gary was a road racer. The cycling bug was passed on, but Gary left his family in 1981 and Wiggins was brought up by his mother in London.

He revealed in his autobiography, In Pursuit Of Glory, that he developed an alcohol problem after his successful 2004 Olympics.