At a time when sport is gripped by a siege mentality, bruised, bloodied and sinking fast in a mire of drugs, corruption and other assorted scandals, it is good that we have at least reached the time of the year when we can deliberate on the deeds of the good rather than the ugly misdeeds of the bad.

There was one dominant topic of conversation in the lobby of the freshly re-opened Hôtel Royal Savoy in Lausanne during last week’s SportAccord International Federations Forum.

As regular readers probably know, I am sceptical about sport’s ability to bring doping by top-level athletes under anything resembling control.

If I could give one piece of advice to any professional sportsperson it would simply be this: don’t dare seek a career in the world of sporting governance once your career reaches its end.

In less than two years from now, the host city of the 2024 Olympics will be decided in the Peruvian capital of Lima, but the road has begun in earnest at International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne. All five bidding cities will attend special seminars in the Olympic capital.

This week, in the wake of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Independent Commission report which confirmed and amplified the worst fears about systematic doping and corruption within Russian athletics- and by extension called into question the legitimacy of the overall system in which these abuses were allowed – the voices have been heard of those directly harmed within the field of competition.

Working through the 335 pages of the Independent Commission report into allegations of widespread doping in Russia on Monday night, a familiar feeling assailed me.

Sebastian Coe is under the cosh. More so than at any time in his career, on or off the track.

First, we were shocked by the conflict between SportAccord and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in April. 

That was followed by a summer of scandal involving world football's governing body, FIFA, which flickered and intensified into an autumn of anguish.

Remember back in April at the SportAccord Convention when Marius Vizer had made himself the Olympic Movement's number one enemy following his explosive speech criticising Thomas Bach, who was it that was in the vanguard opposing this dangerous mutineer? It was Lamine Diack, then still the President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

You can guarantee that following the conclusion of every major sporting event, one of the organisers will declare it as “the best-ever”.

This coming Sunday, City Park in Hamburg will be packed with people in rain-capes of different colours - blue, black, red, yellow and green.

Like fetid fumes, bad news continues to emanate from the citadels of power in world sport - with the seemingly endless fug of the FIFA investigation now casting itself over the shoulders of the great Franz Beckenbauer, and the International Association of Athletics Federations’ ex-President Lamine Diack newly announced as being under investigation by French police and the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission following allegations of corruption.

I know sportsmen and women don’t like to lose, but I see the Wallabies' loss to the All Blacks in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup Final as an honourable loss.