This weekend's World Cross Country Championships in Uganda saw a pulsating senior men's contest take place in searing heat at Kampala's Kololo Independence Grounds.

I could not help but shake my head when I saw that UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) had banned an amateur cyclist for two years earlier this week. The idea of a 55-year-old man opting to take steroids to improve his performance firstly made me laugh, but then began to sadden and trouble me.

Lord knows athletics has been struggling with its worldwide PR problems. But amidst the successive, grim accusations and revelations of doping and corruption which have riven track and field in the recent months and years, there is one element of the sport that has remained pure and untrammelled: its supporters.

I’d like to introduce you to my latest venture. A podcast series that you can find here entitled Citizens of Sport, with the first one being with one of the most polarising figures in world sport – Lance Armstrong.

Hero is a word bandied around far too often these days, but it is an apt description of one of the British Lionhearts team present here tonight.

It seems a typically clever move by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach to appoint his four vice presidents to a working group to, as the news release put it, “explore changes to the candidature procedure” with “everything…on the table”.

Unlike the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games do not appear to be short of cities ready, willing and able to accommodate them.

In 1950 South Korea was the location for one of the most daring military operations of the 20th century.

When unveiling her Brexit plan back in January, Theresa May stressed the need for renewed closeness with Commonwealth countries as Britain heads towards the European Union's exit door.

La Liga President Javier Tebas is not one to mince his words. During our interview at SPORTELAmerica in Miami earlier this week, he did not shirk any of the questions posed and responded with carefully-crafted and concise answers.

Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Louise Martin was all smiles and there was dancing at Freetown airport in Sierra Leone as the baton for the 2018 Gold Coast Games arrived to begin the global relay. But there’s no denying that celebrations have been overshadowed by the decision to strip Durban of the 2022 Games.

There has been no confirmation yet that Nauru is ready to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games - but it can surely only be a matter of time.

It is coming up for 63 years since a young junior doctor named Roger Bannister finished his morning rounds at Paddington Hospital and travelled to Oxford, where he became the History Man by breaking the four-minute mile barrier.

Sometimes you need to step outside the bubble that normally envelopes you to illuminate the fundamentals of whatever your specialist subject happens to be.