REVELATIONS of widespread Russian doping are the latest blow to the integrity of sport.

Not just athletics, but sport as a whole.

Accusations of corruption and cheating are becoming commonplace and with each scandal so the values on which sport is built are eroded.

Fifa are currently dragging the name of football through the dirt amid allegations of bribery and corruption dating back years and officials, including disgraced president Sepp Blatter, are being investigated.

Now the Russians, also implicated in the Fifa scandal surrounding the awarding of the 2018 World Cup, stand accused of systematic doping in athletics to such a degree that they face being expelled from track and field competition at the Rio Olympics.

Former International Association of Athletics Federations president Lamine Diack has also been provisionally suspended by the International Olympic Committee as he faces allegations he took bribes to cover up positive drugs tests.

It’s not just nations, governments or vastly powerful organisations either.

This year saw American sprinter Justin Gatlin widely condemned for being allowed to compete on the world stage having twice served a drugs ban.

Before that, we had Lance Armstrong unveiled as arguably the greatest drugs cheat of all time, bringing the reputation of cycling – a sport never far from controversy – to its knees in the process.

Wherever you look, it seems, there is somebody knowingly and willingly trying to cheat the system.

As much as I would have liked to have been shocked by news of the Russian doping allegation, I wasn’t.

It’s not that it doesn’t bother me or that I don’t think anything should be done about it – far from it – it’s that I am almost immune.

Which shows how bad it has become.

Sadly, corruption is rife. It is a cancer that needs cutting out.

When you watch sport, you want to believe the action in front of you is genuine and not taking place under the influence of external elements.

As soon as that honesty is called into question, trust from the spectator ceases to exist.

Why should we believe anything we see or hear anymore?

The integrity of sport is in danger of being irreparably damaged.