"It's not weak to put your hand up and ask for help... look where I ended" - Former U23 World champion opens up after drug abuse lead to his imprisonment
CyclingTuesday, 11 February 2025 at 23:00
Jack Bobridge had a promising career ahead of himself when he was crowned the U23 time trial world champion in 2009, which got him a contract at WT team Garmin for the next season. In 2011, he even finished fifth at the Worlds TT in the elite category, but that result also marks the point Bobridge's career entered a downward spiral. He retired in 2016. And a year later, the Australian hit the rock-bottom and got arrested for drug dealing.
"It got to the point where my whole body... it was a struggle to even get out of bed," he says
in an episode of the Youtube program A Current Áffair. "I couldn't put my socks on because my feet were so sore, let alone get up and train." Bobridge had already turned to alcohol and drugs throughout his career to forget his problems.
"There was no competition anymore, so there was no barrier then. So it kind of opened the door. I didn’t matter. I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted," he reflects now. In 2017, he was arrested after being caught selling MDMA during an undercover operation, for which he was sentenced to prison in 2019. "I was doing a lot of drugs. And obviously I was getting drugs for my friends at the time, which, I guess, some people will say, yeah, it’s dealing, but there was never any profit to be made from it."
Now, for the first time since he was released in early 2022, he is still remorseful. "I can take it on myself, but it's hard to take it on for everyone who lets you down. My daughter too, she was still so young. She didn't know what was happening," said Bobridge, who would have liked more support from the world that gave him so much in the years before.
"I take full responsibility for the things I've done and the drinking and the recreational drug side of things, but I wish there was more support for athletes," the Aussie said. "You feel like you're giving 100% to your sport and to your country and then when you're done, you're just dropped. That's it. You're done. There were never any phone calls, there were never any emails. There was nothing after I retired. It was just gone. You just disappeared."
Bobridge now works as a bricklayer and hopes his story can help others. "I just hope my story can help one person not to do what I did. It's not weak to put your hand up and ask for help. I didn't, and look where I ended up."
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leedorney22-06-2025 - If it was war it would be treason .🤣🤣 Lol. EDF director rode for Italy at the worlds as his trade team mates were Itallian and was banned for representing GB. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Brother missing the point totally it could have changed the winner of the Giro.Nothing to see here storm in tea cup .paultryan200222-06-2025
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KerisVroom21-06-2025 - Remco is not at the two's level and he will have to deal with attacks from behind. His team is useless even if it would be goodabstractengineer21-06-2025
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That is an interesting take on things. Are you an athiest then?
I'm a cyclist.
Great so am I. Mainly road - flat ones or the downhill parts are what I'm good at........
Why would that matter or be of interest, Bobridge knows if he is or isn’t or could have looked for otherworldly answers instead of resorting to surrogate solutions, losing himself into something that might end up worse than your problem. Besides, he was obviously looking for human support and it is telling that the religious these days are getting very picky and calculating about who they really feel like helping.
The guy miscalculated thinking he could expect club and country to be there for him, nothing more selfish than competitive environments, he should also have realised that if he wasn’t cycling for himself but for some greater good like country or greater evil like ego, it was bound to backfire.
Ponderous. I have found the precise opposite to be true as well, hence my original comment. Burying consciousness in substances seems to help no one in the long term. But relying upon others for help results in disappointment upon learning no one can hear.
"Ponderous." Hmm well observed.........