Chris Froome: Cyclist who overcame rare parasitic disease before winning Tour de France three times now going for gold

From his Kenyan childhood to his South African schooling and love of Pokemon Go, there is more to the cycling great than meets the eye 

Maya Oppenheim
Friday 05 August 2016 10:19 BST
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At the age of 14, Froome moved to one of South Africa’s top boarding schools
At the age of 14, Froome moved to one of South Africa’s top boarding schools

With legs that can release a sustained power output of 400 watts - higher than a power tool which can cut through steel - it would be fair say Chris Froome is something of a powerhouse.

But despite being a three-time Tour De France winner and the first Briton to win the title three times, the cyclist remains modest and unassuming. Froome is known for keeping his head down and, as such, could not be called a showman.

This reputation is no doubt enhanced by the fact he is frequently compared and contrasted to his rival, Sir Bradley Wiggins, who won the Tour De France a year before him in 2012. While Sir Bradley wears double-breasted velvet suits and exudes effortless charisma, Froome is more of the shy retiring type. The fact the two previously fell out probably hasn't helped to ease constant comparisons.

But who is the man who has become one of the most successful stage-racing riders of recent times and a near-permanent fixture in cycling? From his Kenyan upbringing to his romantic side to his apparent love for Pokémon Go, there is more to Froome than at first meets the eye.

He was "the only white kid in the village"

Froome was born in Kenya and educated in South Africa. Although he grew up in a prosperous suburb with his older brothers, things changed when the family business fell apart and his parents divorced. While his two older brothers were sent to Rugby boarding school in Warwickshire, in England, Froome remained in Kenya with his mother due to insufficient money for fees.

It was in Kenya that he first took up cycling, gaining a great deal of support from David Kinjah, the then captain of the Kenyan cycling team. “He got a lot of strange looks from people being the only white kid in the village, it was unusual,” Kinjah told Sky News in a recent interview. “But he quickly learned to speak Swahili and some of our regional language Kikuyu and he was completely comfortable. The best language he spoke was the language of the bicycle. That was all he was interested in.”

He was knocked over by his mother while cycling at a charity race as a teenager

Froome ended up winning a charity bike race at the age of just 13 despite being knocked over by his own mother who was driving alongside him.

At the age of 14, he moved to one of South Africa’s top boarding schools. There he went on to study economics for two years at Johanassberg University but eventually stopped, instead choosing to focus his undivided attention on cycling. “Both my brothers are chartered accountants — that’s probably what drove me to ride!” he has since quipped. At the age of 22, Froome turned professional with the South African team.

He embraces his upbringing

It wasn’t until Froome swapped his ethnicity to British in 2008 that he was able to drive under a British licence. Nevertheless, he maintains a strong sense of a dual identity. “I certainly have different identities [British and Kenyan] but I think that is common today,” he told The Telegraph. “The world is changing and it is quite a modern thing.”

Despite this, his dual citizenship has been cited by some as a reason why his victories have not yet been as firmly imprinted into the British public’s imagination than Wiggins. As his wife Michelle said in July of last year: “With Chris’s background and upbringing, I imagine people do find it difficult to relate to him and how he was brought up and the path his cycling has taken … Chris’ parents, grandparents, great-grandparent, they are all British and they would be incredibly proud of what he’s doing for Britain. It may take longer for him to get the recognition of other sportsmen. It may take 10, 20 years - maybe 30 at this rate - but I am sure people will come to see his accomplishments for what they are.”

Michelle once winded up in A&E after cycling with him

Testimony to the extent of his physical prowess, Froome recently admitted that the last the last time he cycled with Michelle, she winded up in A&E with a sprained neck.

Froome appears motivated by great athleticism rather than fame. He has previously said that he is not encouraged solely by glory, saying that there is an altogether less glamorous side to cycling which can be rather, well, painful.

“As a professional cyclist, you get to know that pain very well,” he told Raphia in an interview. “You go to that ‘place’ so often in training and racing that it just becomes a part of you. It’s not something completely new or foreign, it’s more… I feel the pain, I acknowledge it, but I have trained myself to push on. There’s a methodical side to it, a familiarity. You adapt to the pain.”

He was diagnosed parasitic disease called Bilharzia

Froome was diagnosed with Bilharzia, a parasitic disease, in 2009. Bilharzia is a tropical disease caused by parasitic worms contracted through contact with infected water. He believes he picked up the parasite some years ago from swimming in water in Kenya. He has previously said that when the disease returns it leaves him feeling lifeless.

“When I was first diagnosed they said it had been in my system for at least two years, but it could have been there even longer, five or six years possibly,” he told the Independent in a past interview.

He knows his stuff about Pokemon Go

Froome got engaged to Michelle back in 2013. The pair were married just a year later on a yacht off the coast of Cape Town. They now live in Monaco with their six-month-old son Kellan.

In his spare time, he appears to something a Pokemon Go aficionado. He recently tweeted a picture of the fictional animated creatures sorted into groups in order of rareness. He has also said to enjoy speargun fishing in his spare time.

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