It has been the topic which has largely dominated the latter stages of 2017, with the first half having been focused on the bid race for the 2024 and, ultimately, 2028 Summer Olympics.

The decision by the IOC to make athletes from Russia compete under the banner of "Olympic Athletes from Russia" at Pyeongchang 2018 could be viewed as a plaster aimed at healing the rifts and find a compromise verdict. Applauded by many at the time, the plaster has started to peal back somewhat, with the festering wound still clear, given the criticism still being voiced.

Jim Walden, lawyer of whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, yesterday claimed IOC President Thomas Bach’s leadership as "pathetic" and accused him of "kowtowing to powerful Russia".

His comments came after claims by the IOC that they are unable to protect Rodchenkov, the former director of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory in Moscow before he fled the country to seek asylum in the United States in November 2015.

There is absolutely no chance that Bach will heed the call to resign from his position, with the IOC President concluding the year by stating that a total Russian ban from the Olympics would be “unethical”.

It seems clear from this latest interlude, that the situation involving Russia remains unlikely to go away any time soon, with our end of year reviews from 2018 likely to feature a hefty chunk of text revolving around the issue.

At times, given the politics, it has been difficult to actually focus on sporting action. However, there have been numerous highlights throughout the year, which I thought would be worth mentioning.

My first highlights revolve around comebacks, with arguably the biggest coming back in February when the New England Patriots found themselves trailing 28-3 in the third quarter of this year’s Superbowl.

What followed was a dramatic late rally, where the Patriots scored 25 points without reply to take the match against the Atlanta Falcons into overtime. The first ever overtime period in a Superbowl resulted in the Patriots completing the biggest ever comeback in the showpiece, with their 34-28 win adding another success to quarterback Tom Brady’s illustrious career.

There was a similarly dramatic comeback when Barcelona became the first team to overturn a first-leg 4-0 deficit to knock Paris St-Germain out of the Champions League. With hope of a fightback appearing to have gone up in smoke when Edison Cavani scored an away goal to put the French side 5-3 up on aggregate, Barcelona struck three times in the final seven minutes. The 95^th minute winner from Sergi Roberto rounded off one of the most astonishing European matches of all-time, with the tie surely the among the most memorable football encounters of the year.

Comebacks were not just limited to teams during the year, with several athletes having put injury problems behind them to return to former glories. I was fortunate enough to have been in the London Stadium to witness the 2012 Olympic champion Sally Pearson storm to 100 metres hurdles gold at the IAAF World Championships. 

It followed two injury hit years, including a broken wrist. Having begun the year looking to reassert herself, Pearson ends it as world champion and the face of next year’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

There was also the re-emergence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, just when it appeared injury problems and age may have taken their toll on the duo.

While the pair ended the year with two Grand Slam titles apiece, including Nadal’s 10^th French Open title, the tennis performance to catch my eye came from Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko. The 20-year-old came into the tournament as a clear outsider, but defied expectations by powering through to the final. Despite some inconsistency, the Latvian’s mentality and blistering shots did suggest she could establish herself as one of the stars of the game in the coming years, as the Williams era edges towards its conclusion.

Ostapenko’s almost instant success compared greatly to the wait endured by Spain’s Sergio Garcia, as the golfer finally ended his wait for a major title back in April. Having finished second four times in majors in 18 years, as well as a host of top 10 finishes, it was pleasing to finally watch the Spaniard triumph at the Masters tournament. Given the near misses, it was impressive how Garcia held his nerve in the playoff with England’s Justin Rose at the end of four days of play. Given that Garcia also won on what would have been his idol Seve Ballesteros’ 60th birthday, further gloss was added to the achievement.

Another highlight was the closely fought bout between Britain’s Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko, which took place in front of a post-war record crowd of 90,000 at Wembley. The contest achieved something quite rare in boxing in the last couple of years, as it met and arguably surpassed the pre-fight hype. With both men having found themselves on the canvas at one point of the fight, the uncertainty surrounding the winner proved enthralling. It was arguably what the sport needed given some of the negative stories coming out of boxing, with a fair share coming in the build-up to the farcical Mayweather and McGregor showdown.

Joshua’s victory ultimately signalled the end of Klitschko’s hugely successful career, but he was not the only star to take their bow. Similarly, to Klitschko, Usain Bolt’s career ended on a disappointing note, with the Jamaican sprinter beaten by Justin Gatlin in the 100 metres final at the World Athletics Championships, before pulling up injured in the 4x100m.

It will be fascinating to see how athletics copes without it’s major name, with next year’s Commonwealth Games set to be the first multi-sport Games for some time with Bolt and Mo Farah’s names absent from the start-line for track events entirely.

With South African star Wayde van Niekerk, the anointed successor to Bolt, ruled out of the Games through injury, it will be interesting to see whether anyone can truly emerge as a star. Another hope would be to see the breakthrough of one of the nextgen stars in men’s tennis as some of the sport’s great’s head towards the end of their careers. Could the likes of Dominic Thiem or Alexander Zverev make their mark in 2018 by winning a major.

The answer may not be too far away, with the Australian Open taking place next month as one of the first major event of the New Year.