Money and drugs are spoiling sport

I AGREE with Brian Reade’s view regarding the huge financial rewards available in sport today which puts contenders in the “win at all costs” frame of mind (Mirror, March 6). I am old-fashioned and old enough to remember when taking part was all important.

To represent your school, county, or country was reward enough in itself. But today, the obscene amounts of money on offer very often invite those whose eyes are firmly fixed on wealth, rather than the honour and sheer pride of representation.

I think it is safe to say sport has lost its way and true identity, having in large part been taken over by big business and advertising with the inevitable associated problems of performance-enhancing drugs.

Brian Davies Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Had the late Sir Roger Bannister broken the oneminute mile record in the present uber-suspicious climate, he would undoubtedly have come under intense scrutiny, especially given that he was a medical student, probably with knowledge of and access to any number of performanceenhancing substances. The combination of money and drugs has devalued many sports and cast doubt on any achievement, legitimate or otherwise, as shown by the current Bradley Wiggins furore.

Ray Cubitt Middlesbrough

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee accuse Sir Bradley Wiggins of not acting within the spirit of the law.

MPs’ expense claims might be within the rules, but some undoubtedly break the spirit of those rules by claiming for all and sundry.

R Warren, Faversham, Kent

Well said, Brian Reade. There is too much money involved in sport nowadays. Competitors and those around them will always find new ways of bending the rules on banned substances, if not breaking them outright.

Doping is a shadow cast over many sports, not just cycling. I find it sad.

Pete Fisher, Oldham

Who are the MPs in this Commons committee and what qualifications do they have in sport to discredit an icon like Bradley Wiggins?

Bradley admits to taking a substance, triamcinolone, and was awarded a Therapeutic Use Exemption certificate by cycling’s governing body, the UCI. Since he has taken the substance within the rules of the sport, he deserves a massive apology.

Ron Wilson Newcastle upon Tyne

Is it fair to pillory sports men and women for winning within the rules as they stood at the time?

These athletes dedicated their life to sport only to be accused of cheating by people rewriting the rules.

V White Milford Haven, Pembs