Britain determined to clean up the Dwain Chambers drugs stain before the Beijing Olympics

The harshest of realities is that, like many things in life, the precedent has now been set, with some of the highest-profile athletes in numerous disciplines having been marked as drug-takers.

It came to a head in the dark days of the 1988 Seoul Olympics in South Korea, when Ben Johnson of Canada recorded an incredible performance to win the 100 metres final. He tested positive for the steroid drug stanozolol, and the Games, from this point on, were effectively tainted. 

Since then, countless athletes have been found out, including decorated American track and field athletes, Greek weightlifters and Chinese swimmers. The IOC formed the World Anti-doping agency in 1999, and there is now a huge list of banned substances, and harsh penalties to prevent what is effectively cheating.

Every single member of the British team will be drug tested at least once in the run-up to their arrival in Beijing for this year's Olympics. It has been made clear that there will be greater emphasis on traditional “high-risk disciplines”. The IOC allegedly has lists that dictate that some events can have performance-enhancing more prevalent than other sports.