Bradley Wiggins celebrates accordingly after Olympic win

LONDON (AP) -- Bradley Wiggins promised to forgo the traditional flute of champagne when he won the Tour de France. The British cyclist made up for it after winning an Olympic gold medal with a booze binge.

Wiggins celebrated with a full hedonistic sprint Wednesday night, giving his adoring public a running commentary as he showed his endurance extended beyond the roads.

"Getting wasted," he posted on Twitter along with a picture of himself posing with a drink and flashing a V for victory with St. Paul's Cathedral gleaming in the background.

He didn't slow down from there.

"Blind drunk at the minute and overwhelmed," he posted later. "It's been emotional."

The medal was Wiggins' seventh, making him the most decorated British Olympian of all time. Then the drinks started flowing at the British Olympic Association's games base next to Olympic Park.

"He is absolutely thoroughly entitled to have a fantastic party and celebrate," BOA chairman Colin Moynihan said Thursday. "Nobody deserves it more."

After competing, Moynihan, a former Olympic rower, said "you get a bit dehydrated."

"That vodka and tonic might have had a bit more of an effect than it might have done under normal circumstances," he said.

Wiggins on July 22 became the first Briton to win the Tour de France. After donning his winner's yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysees, he said he would pass on the champagne and turn his focus to the London Games. It paid off.

"It's extraordinary what he has done," said Andy Hunt, head of Britain's Olympic delegation. "There isn't a person in the country who wouldn't want to buy him a drink."

After winning his first gold, at the 2004 Athens Games, Wiggins struggled to cope with the letdown, going on a nine-month drinking binge.

"In 2004, I was almost an alcoholic after the Olympics," he recalled during the Tour de France last month.

Such excesses are no more, he insists.

"I lead a pretty normal life," he said Wednesday night between sips of a vodka and tonic. "I'm not a celebrity. I will never be a celebrity."

The advice from IOC spokesman Mark Adams to athletes on Thursday was: "Drink wisely."

It was too late for Australian rower Josh Booth to take heed. He was detained by police and hospitalized, apparently overindulging after finishing sixth in the men's eight in his Olympic debut.

Booth allegedly caused damage to a storefront but was not charged.

"We understand there was alcohol involved," said Australian team chief Nick Green, who received a phone call from police at 3 a.m. at the athletes village.