A majority of 57 per cent, from 19,000 people surveyed across 19 countries by the BBC World Service, said doping has had either "a lot" or "some" negative effect on the level of attention they will pay the Games.

Respondents from Germany and Brazil, which will host next month’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, were least affected.

An average of 62 per cent of citizens also said their country's performance has "a lot" or "some" impact on national pride.

Olympic success had the biggest impact on national pride among respondents in emerging economies such as Indonesia, Kenya, Russia, Peru and India.

National pride appeared least affected by Olympic success in Brazil, Germany, the United States and France.

According to Doug Milller, chairman of the firm that carried out the survey, GlobeScan, the poll results "underscores the important role the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) plays in protecting the Olympic franchise". 

Earlier this week, WADA criticised the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russian athletes at Rio 2016 after they had called for the nation to be completely exiled from the Games in the wake of Richard McLaren’s report.

Following a second emergency meeting of the ruling Executive Board on Sunday (July 24), the IOC left the responsibility on the extent of Russian participation to the International Federations.

Russian athletes will be cleared to compete as long as they can show they have fulfilled a set of stringent criteria.

Any Russian athletes who have been banned for doping, even if they have served their sanction, have been prohibited from taking part by the IOC.

Kenyan athletes are currently having to undergo special testing before a decision "on an individual basis" is made on whether they can compete at Rio 2016.

This follows a decision at the Olympic Summit last month, with Kenya currently non-compliant with WADA rules.

The criminalisation of some doping offences was approved in the country, a distance running powerhouse, to help address numerous drugs scandals.

Last week, Claudio Berardelli, the former coach of banned marathon runner Rita Jeptoo, was charged with doping offences by a court in Kenya.

The Italian appeared in court with Daniel Cheribo Kiplangat and Stephen Kiplagat Tanui, with the latter a pharmacist in the Kenyan town of Kapsabet.

It was claimed that Berardelli had administered a banned performance-enhancing drug to Jeptoo between August and September in 2014.

A majority of people in 13 of the 19 countries polled in the BBC World Service survey said the use of doping would reduce their interest in the Olympics.

It is claimed citizens of South Korea, Peru, Australia and France are most likely to lose interest in the Games because of doping.

Only 35 per cent of Germans and 36 per cent of Brazilians said they would be put off by the Games on that account, however. 

The survey was conducted between December of last year and April of this year.