We Brits are at our worst when we are hypocritically righteous. We bang on about how pure we are, how it's those bloody foreigners who are all cheats and how we lead the fight against drugs.
Remember the fuss about Ronaldo winking at the Portuguese bench when Rooney was sent off last year? 'Cheat!' we yelled. For winking.
But when a British athlete misses three appointments for drug testing - not one, not two, but three - our athletics authority says 'oh, she can't possibly be banned, she's a Brit, and we Brits are above suspicion'.
No, the real cheats are the British who make an art of hypocrisy. The moment we sniff gold, we come up with preposterous twists and turns of logic to show that clear cheating isn't cheating after all. It can't be, because we are British. QED.
What rot.
Not that anyone actually thinks athletics is an honourable sport any more, do they?
UPDATE: I'm taken to task for calling the 'winner' a cheat. In my book - and, I might add, the IOC's - anyone who infringes the rules on drug testing is banned for life.
She seems to think that the rules for other contestants should not apply to her and she should be free to compete in China. If she is, then we will know how seriously the BOC and IOC take drug testing as a principle.
I do not accuse her of taking drugs. I have no idea. Indeed, no one does because she did not make herself available for testing at the right time. Or rather, times. Three times.
The picture on the left is the face a of a cheat.