How Team GB stars skilled differing fortunes since London 2012

The London 2012 Olympics are remebered as the glory days of that decade – with memories of a warm summer shining bright on the country’s sporting promise. 

From Queen Elizabeth’s appearance alongside Daniel Craig‘s James Bond at the opening ceremony, to the Spice Girls reuniting for a spectacular performance, the UK pulled out all the stops while the rest of the world watched on. 

It’s also where many sporting heroes became household names, with the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Mo Farah and Rebecca Adlington claiming medals in their respective events.  

But in the 12 years that have passed and as another tournament in Paris approaches, Team GB‘s stars have experienced very differing fortunes. 

From one’s star’s bankruptcy to doping allegations and multiple marriage splits, success at London 2012 seems to have come with a something of a curse for some of the participants. 

Here, FEMAIL takes a look at where the London 2012 heroes are now, and the tragedies that have faced them since.  

Sir Bradley Wiggins 

MARRIAGE BREAKDOWN AND BANKRUPCY 

Cycling hero Sir Bradley Wiggins was once a national hero and the most decorated British Olympian. 

In 2004, he’d already wowed audiences in Athens by claiming a gold, silver and bronze – the first Brit to win three medals at the same Olympics in 40 years. 

When the 2012 London Olympics rolled around, he was at the peak of his success, becoming the first ever Brit to win the Tour de France. 

In the space of just nine days – he rode to glory down the Champs-Elysees then dashed back across the Channel to recline on a golden throne at Hampton Court, after winning the Olympic time trial at London, 

Dubbed Wiggo by fans, he stood out thanks to his witty quips and mutton-chop sideburns, and it was nor surprise when he was named the BBC’s Sports Personality of the year in 2012, joining the likes of Sir Chris Hoy, Zara Phillips and David Beckham to claim the prestigious award. 

Things began to go downhill that very same year, when Wiggins was invited to sign Sky Sports’s white wall in their Islington Headquarters. 

Instead of penning his own name, Wiggins reportedly wrote that of ‘Jimmy Savile’, with a staff member calling him a ‘total p****’. 

In 2016 he was caught up in doping allegations through his use of triamcinolone – a prescription drug for asthma that is banned in competitions due to being a slow-release steroid that aids weight loss. 

UK Anti-Doping investigated the allegations but it was eventually closed due to a lack of information. 

Since retiring from all forms of professional cycling in December 2016 there has been a murky story for Wiggins, one of High Court appearances, divorce and bankruptcy.

By 2018 an investigation into Wiggins by the Digital Culture Media and Sport committee found he had used the controversial drug triamcinolone to enhance his performance and not for medical reasons.

Following this devastating report he said: ‘You watch your family suffer, and it’s terrible. It nearly killed my wife. She ended up in rehab over it. I’m at home having to deal with it.

‘Because she’s bi-polar she has this fear of shame, people watching her all the time. You couldn’t say that at the time because you’ve asked for it, because you’ve won the Tour de France. No, I didn’t ask for that actually. I only asked for a fair trial.’

He added: ‘What I should have done is murder someone because then I’d have had proper rights. I’d have had more rights as a murderer.’

In 2020 Wiggins and his wife Cath announced they were separating in a Tweet writing: ‘It is with deep sadness my wife Cath and I have decided to separate. Our two children remain our priority and we ask for privacy at this time. Brad & Cath.’

In June, Sir Bradley, now 44, was declared bankrupt, and could even hand over his medals and trophies. 

Wiggins Rights Limited, a company owned by ­Wiggins, his former wife Cath and his mother Linda, entered voluntary liquidation in 2020 with debts of £650,000.

These debts later increased to just under £1 million in 2022 and by November 2023, creditors claimed this had not been paid, which they warned would likely lead to him being declared bankrupt.

Trustees could now be appointed to seize Wiggins’ assets, with fears that his Olympic and Tour De France medals and even his Sports Personality of the Year trophy could be stripped from him.

His lawyer Alan Sellers recently told the Mail that the Olympic hero is effectively homeless after the £975,000 barn where he’d lived with his family in the North Lancashire countryside was repossessed. 

‘In reality, Brad is sofa-surfing,’ he said. He stays with friends and family. I don’t know where he stayed last night, I don’t know where he will stay tonight or tomorrow night. He doesn’t have an address.’ In other words, he’s basically homeless.

‘He has lost absolutely everything. His family home, his home in Majorca, his savings and investments. He doesn’t have a penny. It’s a very sad state of affairs.’

Victoria Pendleton 

MARRIAGE BREAKDOWN AND MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES 

Victoria Pendleton is one of Team GB’s most successful Olympians, earning two gold medals and a silver at London 2012. 

But she bowed out of professional cycling after London 2012 when she was the reigning world champion due to the extreme pressure and anxiety she was feeling. 

Victoria retired aged 32 at the peak of her career straight after the Olympics.

And while Britons remember her London 2012 performance as nothing but exceptional, Victoria herself remains disappointed she didn’t achieve all golds.  

She told The Guardian in a recent interview: ‘I underperformed, that’s the reality of it.’ 

She told the Mail’s Weekend Magazine in 2021: ‘I was always full of self-doubt. I’ve never been a particularly self-confident individual and everyone would say, ‘How can you be so good at your sport and not be confident?’ I have such high expectations of myself that it will never ever be enough. 

‘I’m very self-critical and that’s what motivates me to try harder, because I’d like to do everything better and faster. So you’re always pushing and pushing and pushing yourself.

‘But when you push yourself so relentlessly, and you don’t reward yourself, then it’s easy to get into a bit of a slump if things aren’t going your way. The hardest thing is to take a break, because that’s the last thing you want to do. You always want to do more.’

In 2018 Pendleton attempted to climb Mount Everest for the British Red Cross with TV adventurer Ben Fogle, but had pull out at 21,000ft, when she was 8,000 away from the summit. 

She was diagnosed with severe depression in the months that followed, partly brought on by not reaching the top. 

The former cyclist later revealed that her acclimatisation hadn’t been right, meaning she couldn’t keep pace with the group. She suffered from hypoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain known to trigger depression and anxiety.  

At the same time, her marriage to sports scientist Scott Gardner was ending. 

Pendleton was prescribed anti-depressants, beta blockers, tranquillisers and sleeping tablets but didn’t take them, meaning she hit rock bottom and didn’t want to live to ‘see tomorrow’.  

She told Weekend Magazine: ‘I didn’t know where I was going, my divorce, not wanting to settle down. I’d reached my limit, I overflowed.

‘I couldn’t contain it anymore. And the biggest thing is I felt so guilty. I felt, ‘I’m an Olympic champion, I should be able to manage myself’ but my mind said that I couldn’t. It took a long time for me to accept that vulnerability and that it was OK.

‘That I wasn’t failing, it was just something I was struggling with. Yes, it took a while, but then I was lucky to have such supportive friends and family around me. I feel really grateful for that.’

She credits Team GB’s cycling psychiatrist Steve Peters for saving her life. Thankfully she called him just in time for her twin brother Alex to rush to her home and confiscate the pills she’d been stockpiling for an overdose.

Alex tragically passed away in June 2023 from cancer, after battling an ‘aggressive’ brain tumour.  

Victoria took part in the celebrity series of SAS: Who Dares Wins in 2019, despite still being in recovery. 

She credits the show with helping her prove to herself that her old resilience was still there. 

It was also where she met former special forces operator Louis Tinsley, and began a relationship with him. 

These days Victoria’s main sporting love is not cycling, but horse riding.   In 2016 she rode in the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham, finishing fifth out of 24, and now has two horses of her own, Vesper and Sarah. 

Mo Farah 

DOPING CLAIMS TARNISHING REPUTATION

Mo Farah, 41, is one of the greatest long distance runners of all time.  He won gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics in both the 5,000m and 10,000m 

He completed his final race in September 2023, finishing in fourth place in the Great North Run and completing a glittering career. 

But Mo’s career was once held in the balance due to his links to disgraced coach Alberto Salazar, previously admitting it has caused him to ‘suffer financially’. 

In 2019 Salazar was given a four-year ban for doping violations.  Farah insisted he was left stunned by the ban from the coach, who guided him to his Olympic titles. 

Farah worked closely with Salazar between 2011 and 2017 while at Nike’s Oregon project, before splitting with the coach over the allegations from a 2015 Panorama investigation, and the American was eventually banned for four years by USADA in October 2019.

The British runner also explained the impact on his financial position with several sponsors withdrawing funding in the wake of the revelations. 

‘I didn’t have a clue,’ he told The Times previously. ‘For me [when news broke of the ban] it was like, wow, four years. 

‘I was thinking, “Oh my God”. I know I never did anything. I know he was my coach. But to put up with this year after year, it’s not you, it’s the coach, but it’s you it is aimed at, is quite frustrating.’

‘If I had realised there was going to be a problem, I would have been out (of the Oregon Project). 

‘But I was faced with someone who had helped me in my career, to get me where I was, and you have the right to talk to him and look him in the eye. 

‘He said they are just allegations made by people with grudges and “I promise you this will be proven”. At that point you don’t want to think anything else, and you just want to carry on.

‘He also hadn’t been found guilty. And it wasn’t just about me. As a single man I could have just said “move”. But I had three kids — actually I think my son was just born — I had four kids, three at school, my wife’s there, we’d bought a house. I’m not just going to say, “There’s been some allegations, we’re going”.’

Farah also admitted he understood why several high-profile sponsors had decided to end their arrangements with him, but felt he had suffered significantly in the fall-out. 

‘You think about it, why would anyone want to be associated when you . . . all the time,’ said Farah. 

‘If I wasn’t Mo Farah and I saw Mo Farah and I’m seeing these headlines, I’d question. Yeah, I’d ask the same questions.’ 

Asked whether sponsors had turned their back, he said: ‘Yeah, of course.  I’m just being honest. I’ve got nothing to hide. If I did have something to hide why would I want to face you?

‘I don’t want to go into any more detail but there’s been a lot of stuff, financially and emotionally, where I have suffered a lot.’

In 2015 it was revealed that Mo had missed two drug tests – in 2010 and 2011 – in the buildup to the Olympics.

And the BBC’s Panorama revealed two years ago that he had received a performance-enhancing supplement before the 2014 London Marathon, which he failed to declare.

He has always insisted he is a ‘clean’ athlete and claimed he genuinely forgot about the supplement, which is not banned if taken below a certain dosage.

‘I can sleep at night knowing I have done nothing wrong,’ he said at the time.

In 2022, Farah revealed he had been a victim of trafficking, having been smuggled into the UK, saying his real name is Hussein. 

He said he was brought to the UK illegally when he was around eight or nine and spent his early years as a domestic slave for a woman he had never met before. 

In his BBC documentary, The Real Mo Farah, the father-of-four apologised for lying about his identity. 

He had only found out that his mother was alive after her female friend came to a restaurant where he worked in London and handed him a photo and cassette of her telling him she loved him. 

Mo has been married to Tania, his childhood sweetheart from school, since 2010. The couple live in London with their four children, twins Aisha and Amani and son Hussein. Tania also has a daughter called Rhianna.   

Sir Chris Hoy 

HEALTH STRUGGLES

11-time world champion and six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy was Britain’s most successful Olympian until he was overtaken by Sir Jason Kenny. 

Hoy, 48, is also the second most decorated cyclist ever with his seven medals – six of which are gold. 

Earlier this year, he revealed the shocking news that he had been diagnosed with cancer. 

‘I currently feel fine – I am continuing to work, ride my bike and live my life as normal,’ Hoy said. 

At the 2012 London Games, Hoy was chosen as Team GB’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony before going on to win team sprint goal alongside Kenny and Philip Hindes.

‘I can’t put into words what it means to me. It’s one of the greatest feelings I have ever had,’ an emotional Hoy told the BBC afterwards.

Unable to imagine how he could top that moment, Hoy retired from cycling the following year.

He moved into motorsport, competing in the British GT Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hour.

Hoy has since immersed himself in charity work, written children’s books and looked after son Callum, nine, and daughter Chloe, six.

Taking to social media, he shared the shock news of his cancer diagnosis in February and revealed he was diagnosed with the illness last year.

His full statement on Instagram read: ‘I have a bit of news. Last year I was diagnosed with cancer, which came as a huge shock, having had no symptoms up to that point.

‘I’m currently receiving treatment including chemotherapy, which thankfully is going really well. I’d like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the medical professionals for their amazing help and care.

‘For the sake of my young family, I had hoped to keep this information private but regrettably our hand has been forced. While I’m thankful for any support, I’d like to deal with this privately.

‘My heart goes out to the many others who are also going through similar challenges right now. I’m optimistic, positive and surrounded by love for which I’m truly grateful.

‘As you might imagine, the last few months have been incredibly difficult. However, I currently feel fine – I am continuing to work, ride my bike and live my life as normal.

‘It’s an exciting year of work ahead, not least the Paris Olympics in July. I can’t wait to get stuck in, have fun and share it with you all.’

In recent years, Hoy has worked as a pundit and commentator on the BBC’s cycling coverage. 

Rebecca Adlington 

DEVASTATING MISCARRIAGES AND MARRIAGE BREAKDOWN

Former competitive swimmer Rebecca Adlington claimed two gold medals at the 2008 Olympics and two bronze medals in the 400 and 800 metre freestyle events in 2012. 

In 2013 she retired from swimming at the age of 23 and has worked for the BBC as a swimming pundit. 

She even appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2013, finishing in seventh place. 

Rebecca lost her daughter Harper in a devastating late miscarriage in October 2023 – after she lost another child at 12 weeks in 2022. 

Rebecca shares son Albie, three, with husband Andy Parsons as well as daughter Summer, eight, from her previous marriage to swimmer Harry Needs.

The athlete spoke openly about her shock of having two miscarriages after having two low-risk pregnancies.

After Albie’s birth, Rebecca fell pregnant around a year later and found out at her 12 week scan she had suffered a miscarriage.

Speaking to Giovanna Fletcher on the latest episode Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast: ‘It didn’t enter the realm of possibility I had a miscarriage because I had super low risks pregnancies as well. I didn’t have any symptoms, I felt exactly the same as the other pregnancies.’ 

Rebecca had to go back the next day for emergency surgery. When she returned home she developed sepsis. 

‘I fainted on the bathroom floor. I couldn’t stand. I know my body. I can’t even open my eyes or function. I went into hospital and got told I had sepsis.  It was just horrific. It was the worst 10 days of my life. ‘ 

Rebecca fell pregnant again with their daughter Harper in 2023 and all seemed well at the 12 week scan.   

Rebecca said on the day of their 20 week scan she had a ‘horrible’ feeling she couldn’t explain.

She said: ‘It was that horrid moment when I was in a scan and I could see Andy’s face looking concerned. We just held each other’s hands and is deadly silent. They said: “I’m really sorry there’s no heartbeat”.’

The Champion swimmer was married to her first husband, Harry Needs from 2014 to 2016, having met when Harry was 17. 

In 2020, Harry came out as bisexual, revealing he’d known since the age of 13 but had never felt the need to publicly address it after meeting Rebecca. 

The father-of-one told fans that being bisexual wasn’t a factor in the breakdown of his marriage to the former Olympic swimming champion. 

He said: ‘This is a question I’ve avoided every day of my life so far, mainly because I strongly dislike labels despite not knowing a solution to avoid them. But if I had to answer I would tell people that I’ve always been bisexual.’ 

Andy Murray

BESET BY INJURIES 

Andy Murray bid his final farewell to Wimbledon tennis just weeks ago after losing in the men’s doubles alongside his brother Jamie. 

After Emma Raducanu pulled out of the mixed doubles, it spelled an end to SW19 for the twice-time champion.  

He had earlier been forced to bow out of the singles with a back injury – just one of many health setbacks that has haunted him since 2012. 

Despite suffering a first-round exit at Beijing in 2008, he defeated Roger Federer to claim gold in 2012.

Even before his Olympic victory, Murray had been plagued by injuries, having to pull out of the 2006 Davis Cup with a neck injury. 

That same year, after the French Open, Murray was injured again and revealed that his bones hadn’t fully grown, causing him to suffer from cramps and back problems. 

A year after the Olympics, Murray was forced to retire from the Rome Masters with a hip injury – which would cause trouble for the rest of his career. 

In 2017 he missed out on a Grand Slam, the US Open, for the first time in his career due to his hip, having been knocked out of Wimbledon while sporting a noticeable limp. 

He then confirmed that he would miss the rest of the 2017 season and even suggested that another significant injury setback could lead to his retirement.

‘If my body is in good shape and I’m still able to compete consistently, I’ll keep playing,’ Murray said.

‘But I can’t look so far in advance with the age I’m at and with the issues I’ve had. If I was to have a big injury, I probably wouldn’t try to come back from that.’

Despite persisting, in 2021 Murray revealed he was ‘one big injury’ away from retirement. 

His words came true this year and it was confirmed that the 37-year-old had surgery to remove a cyst from his spine and there were reports recently that the operation had ruled him out of Wimbledon.

Subsequent tests revealed a cyst had developed which had to be surgically removed. 

The recovery time for the procedure is around four weeks for a ‘normal’ adult and while his team were hopeful that someone of Murray’s build and fitness could respond quickly, he could not get right in time for Wimbledon.

Murray shares four children with his wife Kim: Sophia, eight, Edie, six, Teddie, four and Lola, three.  

Greg Rutherford 

FRIGHTENING DANCING ON ICE INJURY AND EMBEZZLEMENT VICTIM

Greg Rutherford was left with a nasty scar after an injury he sustained on reality show Dancing On Ice. 

The Olympian, 37, missed the final after the mishap on the morning of rehearsals but didn’t reveal what is was at the time.

The athlete later revealed he ‘effectively gave myself a C-section’ after he tore his abs when he tried to skate through the legs of professional Colin Grafton.

Greg and his partner Vanessa James were ‘heartbroken’ to miss the final, which saw Ryan Thomas skate to victory. 

Greg, meanwhile, shared a video of himself and Vanessa James doing the bolero as he lamented that he missed the final and was a ‘bit heartbroken’.

He wrote: ‘Something that I really wish I could have performed… #Bolero Im almost 36 hours since the injury and watching the videos of what could have been. It’s bloody hard to take at this point as I know we could have shown something exciting and new with our final performances.

‘Of course the Bolero isn’t a given and I’ll post our showcase at some point too… I haven’t shown the end as I’m determined to actually perform it with Vanessa one day for everyone to see.

‘I’m really proud of what we achieved on the show. This take was from Saturday morning and we were marking for the double twist… the full program was truly beautiful. I’m a bit heart broken at the moment.’

It’s not Rutherford’s first injury, as in September 2021 he was selected as part of Team GB’s bobsleigh team, but was injured in preparations to qualify. 

In 2012, he won the gold medal for long jump and won his final medal – a bronze – in 2016. 

Like many other athletes, Rutherford was plagued by injuries, mainly to do with his ankle, which eventually forced him to retire in 2018. 

Between the years 2014 and 2015 Rutherford was the victim of an astonishing embezzlement, as his former manager cheated him out of tens of thousands of pounds to fuel a gambling addiction. 

Gaby Stone who was sole director and company secretary of GSE Management, took more than £48,000 from the star, who ‘felt sick’ after learning of the fraud.  Stone was jailed for 18 months in 2017. 

Mr Rutherford would sometimes have to wait up to three months for payments.

In March 2015 he arranged a meeting with Stone to discuss their arrangement, and Stone told him that he had lost £40,000 through a ‘bad investment’.

Rutherford and his long-term partner Susie Verrill share two sons and one daughter.  

Andrew Simpson 

UNTIMELY DEATH

Sailor Andrew Simpson won silver at the 2012 Olympics and gold in Beijing in 2008

The 36-year-old was sometimes known as Bart Simpson after the popular cartoon, and was awarded an MBE in 2009. 

He won gold in the Star class in Beijing alongside Iain Percy, and had his sights set on the America’s Cup in 2013.

But whilst training in San Francisco, his boat capsized and he was trapped underneath. 

His team explained that the 72-foot catamaran tipped over and Simpson was trapped underneath. It is understood that he was under the boat for 10 minutes and CPR was performed unsuccessfully.

The cause of the accident is to this day unknown. 

A statement released by his team at the time read: ‘It is with immense sadness that Artemis Racing confirms the tragic death of crewmember Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson today in San Francisco.

‘Simpson, a British Olympic gold medalist, was one of the 11-man crew aboard Artemis Racing’s AC72 catamaran which capsized during training on San Francisco Bay ahead of this summer’s America’s Cup. All other crewmembers are accounted for.

‘Simpson, however, was trapped underneath the boat and despite attempts to revive him by doctors afloat and subsequently ashore, his life was lost.’

The team’s CEO Paul Cayard added: ‘The entire Artemis Racing team is devastated by what happened. Our heartfelt condolences are with Andrew’s wife and family.

Cayard held a short press conference, but did not elaborate on the cause of the tragedy.

He said: ‘We had a tragic day today on the bay. Our thoughts are with Andrew Simpson’s wife and kids and also with the rest of the team. This is a shocking experience to go through.

‘We have a lot to deal with in the next few days. The boat is under control but it is not the first of our concerns. We are focused on the people. We will give more information when we are able to.’

Simpson had admitted that winning the America’s Cup was his biggest goal.

He had hoped that dream would come true as strategist for challenger Artemis Racing, whose sailing team director and tactician was his close friend Percy. Percy was onboard at the time of the capsize.

If you have been affected by this story, you can seek advice at www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk or www.tommys.org or by calling 01924 200 799. 

You can also call the Samaritans on 116 123, or email [email protected].