Is the Olympic spirit still alive when performance-enhancing drugs and bending the rules are the flavour of the day? Olympic Games of old were all about athletes who were genuine and the product of hard work and not some laboratory.

I may be naïve but somehow concepts of 'fair play' and the spirit of taking part seem to have gone by the wayside, shunted by the cruel realities of the modern world. It is now widely alleged that most athletes are popping illegal pills of some sort. Ephedrine and amphetamine are replacing Anadin or Dispirin for the common athlete’s cold.

But we have to believe that sport will one day escape from the evil shadow of drugs and cheating. The memory of Ben Johnson sprinting to gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympics still lingers. The games today are more about big business than the pride of athletic achievement; McDonalds and Nike have replaced the Corinthian spirit.

I may be one of the old die-hard traditionalists who still believes in the Olympic ideals. Somehow, past Olympians who captured our hearts represented everything that was wholesome and good. They sprinted with conviction, glided through middle distances with majesty and somersaulted on the gymnastic mat. without ever resorting to a needle or a pill.

Would the likes of Jessie Owens, Emile Zatopek and Lasse Viren have considered a quick medical boost before a big race? Surely the wondrous American swimmer Mark Spitz, who grabbed seven gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympics, never touched so much as a Perrier water. Would the marvellous Mary Peters and the demure Fanny Blankers Koen have gone anywhere near a cough-medicine bottle without having sent the label to a laborotory?

The Olympics needs priorities to change and the focus needs to go back to spotless sportsmanship. Baron Pierre De Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics, always championed the finer Olympian ideals and virtues.  Pride in performance always held hands with uplifting patriotism. Long may it live.