Sir Bradley Wiggins & the DCMS report: Yellow jerseys, gold medals and shades of grey

On the wall of my kitchen, alongside various other souvenirs of sporting events and musical memorabilia, is a framed print of Sir Bradley Wiggins' smiling face.

It is a graphic artist's reimagining, the cyclist's eyebrows forming the handlebars of a bike, his nose the front forks, his grin the curved road under the wheel.

It has been there since 2012, and it is there as a representation of everything that happened in that wonderful sporting year - the London Olympics, that record medal haul, the sense of national giddiness and joy that came with it all.

Wiggins embodied it like no-one else: celebrating his Tour de France victory on the Champs-Elysees by talking about drawing the raffle tickets, walking out at the Olympic opening ceremony in yellow to bring the place down, lounging in a throne at Hampton Court Palace after winning time-trial gold. British to the core yet different to anything seen before, the definition of an undemonstrative nation's new swagger and confidence.

And then some of that golden glow began to fade, and darker shades begin to leak in. For the past 18 months, as allegations and revelations have piled up, one friend has marked each visit by pointing at the print and raising his eyebrows. "Still got that poster up?"

Source: bbc