Lance Armstrong was paid $1.5m

to race in the Tour Down Under  in 2009. That information has been kept from us until now  - kept from us under a secrecy agreement. 
He came twice more - and was paid on each occasion. Presumably he was paid about the same amount each time. If so he was, according to the report in the paper, paid about $5m. 
It is claimed that it was worth paying him this because, at the time, he was a highly regarded sportsperson and he brought a lot of money into the state. He made the Tour Down Under an international race. It has, according to those "in the know" been a huge financial success for the state.
Of course  Armstrong has since been shown to be a drug cheat. "Oh, he wasn't a drug cheat at the time" people have said. Really? You mean he hadn't been caught.
Winning is everything now in sport. It doesn't matter how you do it - just so long as you don't get caught. You take drugs. You tamper with the ball. You call your opponents vile names.  You do all this and much more. 
At the lower levels of any game you may be playing simply to win, to get a stripe on your school blazer or the "silver" cup in the display cabinet in the club rooms - but you had better get those things because it is winning that is important.
I know I have said this before but, along with the story about Armstrong's payment, there is another one about young people, some not even in their teens, taking illegal enhancement performing drugs. Some, perhaps most, may not even be aware of what they are taking but the culture of "winning" has become so important that they are being offered or given these things. 
And instead of backyard cricket or kicking a football in the street children are now "coached" and watched over by adults - adults who all too often want their young charges to win and be the next great sports star. 
The very fact that these things are happening should just not be ringing alarm bells but sending emergency services to the scene so that the situation can be repaired. It isn't happening because the pressure to "win" has become too great.
Is it any wonder that many children of lesser ability don't want to engage in physical activity?