As Xi Jinping declared the 15th version of former IAAF President Primo Nebiolo’s Big Idea open, the giant “tree” which had been constructed alongside the back straight of the Bird’s Nest stadium was made to turn green, shooting out fresh leaves and revealing each version of these Championships in the form of enormous fruit.

The day before, a peach-stone’s throw from the stadium at the Chinese National Convention Centre, Sebastian Coe was elected as the man now charged with pruning and re-shaping the sport of athletics as its next President. His shears will need to be sharp.

Following the latest elections at the IAAF Congress, Coe is now taking the opportunity to appraise the hand with which he has been played.

Among the new cards is Coe’s fellow British Olympian Kelly Sotherton. The 2004 Olympic heptathlon bronze medallist has been a vocal critic of both the IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Authority in the wake of the latest slew of doping allegations to have been levelled at the sport by The Sunday Times newspaper, working in tandem with two scientists who have interpreted leaked data on blood samples between 2001 and 2012.

 "Something needs to happen to our sport to try to get some more integrity so the general public, the fans, believe what they are watching is true,” Sotherton said. "This story is alarming. Especially the fact it's in endurance events as my event, the heptathlon, comes under that.

"Athletics needs to look at itself internally. The IAAF, where this information was leaked from, and the WADA need to clean the sport up. The sport is not finished. It just needs to hit the bottom, then find a solution and a strategy to get out of it."

Would anybody seriously doubt that Kelly Sotherton was a clean athlete? No sane person. She speaks her mind. When a poll of British athletes was taken prior to London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics, she was one of the few to offer a dissenting voice from the idea that it would be a good thing. She was wrong – but honestly so. You have to say that the more people like Sotherton – who was elected to the IAAF Women’s Committee – the IAAF has within it, the better off it will be.

The fresh green shoots of change have already been evident at these Championships in terms of the sport itself as the host nation has taken pride in ground-breaking progress by some of its athletes.

On the day after Usain Bolt’s 100m victory over Justin Gatlin on Sunday night, some Chinese news organisations led their story with the achievement of home sprinter Su Bingtian in becoming the first Asian athlete to reach a global sprint final.

Most of the world saw a victory which, for all the understandable reluctance of Bolt to accept symbolic significance as the defender of track and field’s virtues against the man who has been banned twice, reverberated as no other of his previous achievements has through a sport desperate to persuade the watching millions that it was not corrupt beyond hope – or perhaps anywhere near it.

But the rhythmic chanting in the stadium before the start of the semi-finals – where Su Bingtian equalled his Chinese record of 9.99 – and final was not for Bolt. For the sport itself, that was beautiful to hear.

On Tuesday night the stadium resounded to more high home excitement as three Chinese long jumpers – an unprecedented number – contested the final, with 18-year-old Jianan Wang taking bronze, Xinglong Gao finishing fourth and Jinzhe Li fifth.

As China’s team leader Feng Shuyong, vice-chairman of the Chinese Athletic Association, explained on the day after the final, with Su Bingtian and his coach Yuan Gouqiang at his side, the host nation is seeing the fruits of its own environmental changes as Chinese sport embraces a more open attitude to international competition and information exchange.

Feng did not refer specifically to the days of the early 1990s, when the extraordinary feats of China’s female middle distance and endurance runners created a series of world records and a mass of suspicions about doping, some of them proven.

But as he extolled the virtues of the young man at his side as a role model and inspiration for a new generation of Chinese athletes, his choice of words was revealing.

“I think this is an important breakthrough for Su and also for Chinese athletes in general. All the athletes and the coaches have the same dream, and he has realised that dream. I think he has done a great thing.

“We have to keep making an effort, with Su as our leader. He is a very good performer who knows how to take good care of himself and he has a strong sense of ethics.

“I hope that for future generations of Chinese athletes, Su can set an example.”