Game now is winning at all costs

CHEATING is a stench that has hung around sport since the 60s when East Germany’s athletes were pumped with steroids.

Half a century on, the stench is still there. It’s right that such anger has erupted over Wiggins. But it’s also naive.

The charge is that, though he broke no rules, his behaviour was unethical. Well, if that gets you sent you to the Tower, most of our footballers would be there for tricking referees.

When sport can make you rich beyond your wildest dreams, it is about winning at any cost, and rules are there to be bent.

That doesn’t just apply to sport. Damian Collins, chair of the committee that outed Wiggins, tried to pay his wife’s PR company £6,000 from parliamentary allowances, in breach of MPs’ expenses rules.