THE death of Sir Roger Bannister stirred memories of an era when sport was about achievement and honour rather than desperate bids to collect medals and money.

On the morning that he made sporting history by running a sub-four minute mile, Bannister worked his shift at a hospital in London, before catching a train to Oxford for the race.

Running was his unpaid sporting hobby.

It is sad that the death of one sporting hero should coincide with another being on the verge of a fall from grace.

Britain’s most decorated Olympian has been accused of using an allowed substance for “unethical” purposes during Tour de France. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport sports committee says Team Sky gave Bradley Wiggins anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone at the 2012 Tour de France, an event he won.

The report claims Team Sky “abused” the system of Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) to improve his power-to-weight ratio rather than use the drug medically.

Wiggins maintains he used triamcinolone to treat asthma, although the rider did not mention his allergies in his autobiography, published in 2012.

The reputations of Wiggins, Team Sky and its former performance director Sir Dave Brailsford have been tarnished, no matter how much they protest their innocence.

The revelations ask questions about what has been lost in the decades after Bannister’s achievement as sport became big business and the mentality of competitors and team bosses changed. Bannister was a winner, but winning at all costs is too high a price to pay.