Michael Johnson: The Truth Behind 4 Olympic Golds, Doping & Team USA (E274)

We re-visit one of the most emotional and gripping conversations we have ever recorded. Eight Olympic medals, five of them gold, and the first Briton ever to win the Tour de France. For one summer in 2012, Sir Bradley Wiggins was the most famous man in Britain — sideburns, gold medal, sat on a throne at Hampton Court. He couldn't bring himself to put the medal on. Bradley takes us right back to the beginning: a council estate in Kilburn, a father who left when he was eighteen months old and came back only once his son was successful, and a coach who sexually abused him between the ages of thirteen and sixteen — something he didn't say out loud for thirty years. Then he traces, with total honesty, how that damage became the fuel that made him great, and how the same fuel nearly destroyed him when the racing stopped. Moments that will stay with you: Why Bradley laid his Olympic gold medal on the sofa rather than put it round his neckSmashing his trophies off the mantelpiece, and throwing out his knighthoodHis father's line, a week after they finally met: "Don't forget, you'll never be as good as your old man was"Realising the voice screaming at him up every climb of the Tour was his stepfather'sLance Armstrong offering to pay for his treatment, and what Bradley said backThe hotel room his son had to come and find him in He's unflinching on what drove him: that greatness often grows out of a dark place, and that isn't something to romanticise. That you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your habits. That fulfilment carries you further than happiness ever will. And his hardest-won lesson — not everyone who helps you is your friend, and not everyone who hurts you is your enemy. The answer isn't to forget the past. It's to change your relationship with it. Contains discussion of the sexual abuse of children and of addiction. Please listen with care. Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep9-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.  AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Eight Sleep 👉If you want to discover deeper sleep. Use code HPP to get £360 off your Pod 5 Ultra here: https://highpfrmc.com/eightsleep_au Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do you do when the people around you don't believe you can do it? Jake and Damian tackle one of the things listeners struggle with most — being doubted — and land somewhere they didn't expect: the doubt that really holds you back is usually your own. Damian unpacks Albert Bandura's self-efficacy theory and why the two ways to build belief are evidence and self-talk, Alison Brooks' research on reframing nerves as readiness rather than fear, and self-determination theory — why being doubted by others can become the most durable fuel there is. Along the way you'll hear Rugby League legend Jamie Peacock on the day he stayed on the bus and rode past his trial at Bradford Bulls, and the mantra he repeated the second time to get off; Karl Lokko on where he found the confidence to walk into rooms that weren't built for him and Mel Robbins on the morning in her bathroom that changed how she talks to herself. Plus, Jake and Damian are joined by High Performance listener Claire, who spent 31 years in policing, to hear what all this means from the other side of the microphone. The belief doesn't have to come first. The action does — and the evidence follows. Listen to the full episodes: Jamie Peacock: Mel Robbins: Karl Locco: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guenther Steiner is one of Formula 1’s most recognisable team bosses, building Haas from nothing and becoming known for his straight-talking approach to leadership. He joins us to reflect on ambition, pressure, and knowing when it’s time to walk away, as well as discuss his new position as CEO of MotoGP team Red Bull KTM Tech3. Guenther opens up about his final years at Haas, admitting he stayed around two years too long, and how he knew the belief was gone when he could no longer see a path to a podium. He also reveals the moment he discovered he’d been sacked, and why it brought an unexpected sense of relief. He shares the thinking that built Haas and how he’s applying the same principles to his new chapter in MotoGP with Tech3. This is a candid conversation about ambition, identity, and knowing when to let go. Learn more about Red Bull KTM Tech3: https://motogp.tech3racing.fr/index.php Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep9-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.  AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Eight Sleep 👉If you want to discover deeper sleep. Use code HPP to get £360 off your Pod 5 Ultra here: https://highpfrmc.com/eightsleep_au Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're revisiting this conversation with James Blunt because it's among the most disarming things we've recorded about belief, ridicule, and where confidence actually comes from. James made his first album on nothing but belief. He'd burnt his bridges with every record label in Britain and was playing to about twenty people on the twentieth floor of a Ramada hotel — and he was still completely certain the whole world was going to hear it. Understanding the real odds, he says, would have taken the wind out of his sails entirely. James tells Jake and Damian why you keep your powder dry until you're genuinely equipped, because you only get one shot with the people who matter. Why he never answers criticism on the day it lands — the sting always comes out overnight. Why the only opinions worth weighing come from the people who'll take the mickey out of you to your face. And the three things he carried out of commanding soldiers in Kosovo and into running the same band for twenty years: a good team, real respect for that team, and the conviction to make the call. Then there's what it cost him... the orchestrated press campaign that turned James into a national punchline and how he dealt with it. Being held back in a dressing room so that Damon Albarn didn't have to stand near him. The hug from Keith Flint he never forgot. And the night in Carrie Fisher's bathroom that produced Goodbye My Lover in a single, unrepeatable take. AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jake and Damian tackle the question underneath almost every High Performance conversation: what do the best actually do differently, day to day? Not the big moments. The small, repeatable ones. Because across hundreds of conversations on this show, the pattern is rarely talent or luck. It's that high performers have built a handful of habits they hold onto when nobody is watching, and they keep doing them long after most of us would have forgotten about them. In this episode, Jake and Damian hear from: Jamie Peacock on why a life of hard decisions becomes an easier life, and the moment on a training pitch in Australia when Damian was on the receiving end of one.James Clear on why grit is really about fit, and the question to ask before you commit to any new habit.Emily Maitlis on the five minutes of golden time she takes before every interview, including the one at Buckingham Palace.Mel Robbins on why she still needs the five second rule to get out of bed, thirteen years after inventing it.Dan Carter on earning your weekend, and why drifting through the week is the opposite of high performance. If there's a habit you keep meaning to start, pick one of these five and begin there. Thanks to our partners: Revolut Business 👉 High-performing businesses need powerful financial tools. Get a £200 welcome bonus with Revolut Business when you sign up at https://revolutbusiness.onelink.me/jLOt/hp-ep9-aud and add money to your account by 30/09/2026. Fees, promotion terms and T&Cs apply.  AG1 👉 head to drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs Go Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started! Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.