It was compelling to watch how the most powerful men - and one woman - in Russia appeared to be dancing invisibly to the tune of their puppet master as he tapped his fingers impatiently on the ornate table waiting for them to give him the answers he demanded. "It seemed to be King Lear meets James Bond’s Ernst Stavro Blofeld," wrote the Moscow Times’  Mark Galeotti.

Putin has always had a sense of grand theatre as he has demonstrated on more than one occasion in the Olympic arena, often brilliantly turning what appeared to be a hopeless situation to Russia’s advantage.

When Russia was awarded the right in 2007 to host the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, almost everyone agreed that Putin’s speech before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its Session in Guatemala had played a vital role in its unexpected success.

Putin had personally flown to Guatemala to try and convince the IOC to vote for a city that in terms of current sports facilities and other technical merits, lagged far behind its Austrian and South Korean rivals Salzburg and Pyeongchang, respectively. The Krasnaya Polyana ski resort, where the Olympics would be held, boasted just one ski lift.

But IOC members, who going back in history to Adolf Hitler have always seemed peculiarly attracted to despotic leaders, queued up to meet Putin before the vote. Nearly all left in thrall to him, mesmerised by his unique brand of cold charisma.

Putin had already captured their minds during a visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission earlier in the year when, living up to his action man image, he had skied down the mountain, where it was snowing heavily in temperatures at minus-five degrees Celsius, to greet members of the group visiting Sochi to mark its technical qualities.

In Guatemala, few even within the Sochi 2014 bid team expected Putin to address the IOC members with an English-language presentation, peppered with French and Spanish, that simply blew Pyeongchang and Salzburg out of the water. 

He even gave the IOC members a little history lesson in his speech, stating that: "The ancient Greeks lived around Sochi. I also saw the rock near Sochi to which as legend has it Prometheus was chained. It was Prometheus who gave people fire, fire which ultimately is the Olympic Flame."

Russian Sports Minister at the time and two-time Olympic ice hockey gold medallist Vyacheslav Fetisov said afterwards he had played under "many fine captains" over the years. But Putin, he said, was "the best" and he credited the Russian President for Sochi's triumph.

In 2010, Putin spread his magic dust over Russia’s campaign to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The bid process was run in tandem with one to pick a country for the 2022 tournament and was marked with allegations of corruption almost from the kick off.

England’s usual clarion call of "Football’s coming home" failed to attract many followers, although that was not the picture painted in the British media who simply failed to believe that anyone could not be attracted to the sport's spiritual home with a Premier League that had hundreds of millions of fans around the world. 

It was clear very early, however to those of us that bothered to approach the bid contest with an open mind, that it was Russia that FIFA President Sepp Blatter really wanted. "You cannot deny Russia if they bid for something," he told me during an interview in Singapore a few months before the final vote. "They are more than a country. They are a big continent, a big power."

Rumours begun swirling the night before the vote that Putin’s decision not to travel to Zurich for the vote meant that he knew Russia did not have enough votes to win. England 2018 spin doctor Simon Greenberg briefed the media that its lobbying campaign, led by Prince William, Prime Minister David Cameron and David Beckham, had turned the momentum firmly behind them.

The next day, as England were humiliatingly eliminated in the first round with only two votes, including one from their own member on the FIFA Executive Committee, Russia romped to victory. Putin claimed he had not travelled to Switzerland, as he had to Guatemala, because he wanted FIFA to be able to "make their decision in peace and without any outside pressure".

Putin, who at the time was Prime Minister, rather than President, instead waited until Russia’s election was confirmed before hopping on a private jet from Moscow to take a victory lap. It was several hours after the voting had been announced before Putin strode into the press conference room at the Messezentrum Zurich. 

He marched on to the stage alone doing that familiar unique walk of his, right arm held rigid, his left arm swinging freely. There was no public relations team, no Kremlin advisers, no translator to offer protection.

For the next 40 minutes, Putin sat there on a massive table, a figure apart, directing the press conference himself, taking questions in English and Russian, even occasionally translating.

Mihir Bose, working at the time for insidethegames’ sister title insideworldfootball, asked, "Mr Prime Minister, this morning we saw five Prime Ministers and a future king of a country come and address FIFA. You are the one Prime Minister that stayed away. So, would it be fair to say that you are the cleverest Prime Minister in the world by staying away and winning the contest from so many thousands of miles away?"

Putin has a reputation for rarely smiling, but even he allowed himself a tiny smirk. "Thank you," he told Bose. "I’m glad I insisted on giving you the floor. Thank you, it’s very nice to hear this."

This was Putin at the peak of his powers as far as sport was concerned. The Olympic Movement was like putty in his hands. International Federations were beating a path to the Kremlin’s door to beg them to host their events.

Putin had Russia’s "Decade of Sport" to look forward to, which he was convinced would help a country that had harboured a sense of grievance since the breakup of the Soviet Union to restore its international pride.

Repeated doping scandals, most recently involving a teenage skater, the annexation of Crimea, allegations of corruption about Russia’s 2018 World Cup bid, multiple alleged poisonings of opponents who had fled abroad and now the threat of a potential war with Ukraine means the world of sport has long stopped smiling with Putin. 

His contribution, though, and how it has shaped world sport for perhaps decades to come will be remembered for a very long time.