Combating doping in elite sport is a complex matter to be sure. But not in every respect. Ask most elite sportsmen or women if they favour a life ban for serious cheats, for instance, and the answer is almost invariably “yes”. Ask them if they believe serious cheats should have a place at the Olympics and the answer is almost invariably “no.”

With that key World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Foundation Board meeting fast approaching, last week seemed a good time for my first head-to-head with Travis Tygart, chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the closest thing we have to an Eliot Ness of anti-doping.

Just like Buster the boxer dog in the latest much-lauded John Lewis TV Christmas ad, boxing itself is bouncing high in 2016.

After simmering along gently over the last 12 months, the race for the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games is beginning to boil up.

Long before Sebastian, Lord Coe, hit the giddy heights of presiding over London 2012 and then taking over as grand pooh-bah of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from Lamine Diack, he was a middle distance runner. A very good one too, particularly his 1,500 metres run at the Los Angeles Olympics.

Fittingly, the weather which greeted my arrival here yesterday was dark and gloomy.

With a vast number of delegates in Doha for the Association of National Olympic Committees General Assembly this week, the Qatari authorities did not miss a trick in inviting journalists to attend a tour of "Labour City".

Does anyone, has anyone, ever apologised "reservedly"?

It was, said one observer, a public execution.

We first encountered Donald Trump back in 1988. He was a boxing promoter then, among other things, and when we chatted with him in the build-up to Mike Tyson’s world heavyweight title fight in Atlantic City against Michael Spinks, who would have dreamed we were in the presence of the man who is to become the 45th President of the United States?

If last week’s United States Presidential election taught us anything it is that, like with Brexit earlier in the year, pollsters, the media and much of the liberal elite had abjectly failed to spot the cultural phenomenon that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.

When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declined their bid for recognition in August, the International Sambo Federation (FIAS) could have easily conceded defeat but, after attending the sport’s World Championships here in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, it is obvious they have not.

Another day, another election. Although nowhere near the magnitude of Trump v Clinton, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) choosing a new President still marked the beginning of a new and uncertain era - albeit one which is not perceived to be quite as apocalyptic.

It is challenging enough to be a favourite for a race, or for an athlete to be so finely tuned to peaking at the right time to achieve a personal best. What must it be like for those favourite to win before their home crowd?