On the positive side, Padraig Harrington: supremely talented, dedicated, single-minded, a hero not just for those who like to ruin a good walk by playing a round of golf but to youngsters engaging in sport at every level. The Taoiseach couldn't have put it any better: "Modest in victory and gracious in defeat, he is a superb role model for young and not so young sportspeople, whatever sport they may play."

On the other, Michael Rasmussen: supremely talented, dedicated, single-minded, lean, hungry and incredibly fit . . . superhumanly so, as it turns out . . . a cheat, a man who was willing to lie to his teammates, his bosses, his sponsors and inevitably himself in order to win the greatest prize in cycling, the Tour de France.

Where did it all go wrong for the Dane and the other cheating cyclists outed last week?

Where along the way did the young boy who wanted to emulate his own heroes decide crossing the anti-doping line and getting a little medical help in order to enhance performance was not cheating but as legitimate a tool as a modification on a bike, or a change in design on a tennis racquet, or an improved running shoe?

Way back in 1988, after Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson (interviewed in today's Mad About Sport magazine) was stripped of his Olympic gold medal for testing positive, the Dubin Commission of Inquiry found drug taking in top-level athletics was widespread. Since then, investigation after investigation has confirmed that in many track and field events, swimming and of course cycling, many athletes take drugs as a matter of course and they are assisted in doing so by their trainers and medical advisors. If you're not in, you can't win.

The Tour de France fiasco has shown the antidoping policies within cycling simply aren't working. The race has been so undermined that whoever wins will be under suspicion.

Ironically, it may be the financial muscle of the multinational sponsors, whose glittering prizes of enormous wealth for sporting stars prompted the desire to win at all costs, which could clean up the sport.

Adidas, T-Mobile and Skoda are just some of the big names threatening to pull sponsorship deals because they fear their brands will be tainted by association.