It's been three weeks since international track and field athletics was plunged into a crisis by journalists who revealed what has been described as the extraordinary extent of doping. It was allegedly so bad that one expert consulted said some blood values of athletes were so extreme they were "downright dangerous" with clear health risks.Briefly, the investigative journalists obtained the records of 12000 blood samples from 5000 athletes between 2001 and 2012.They then showed those samples to two scientists who declared, among other things, that one in seven were highly abnormal and suggestive of doping, and that one out of every three medals at a World Championship or Olympic Games was won by an athlete likely to be doping.Those allegations were met by a response that, to many, was even more disheartening than the revelations themselves.Sebastian Coe, an Olympic gold medal winner in the 1980s, reacted with fury, at first calling the report a "declaration of war" on his sport.He then labelled the scientists who provided the analysis as "so-called experts", which is laughable because both helped develop the concept of blood testing that is now used globally, and are two of the world's foremost doping authorities.What is most depressing is that Coe, currently vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, is hoping to be elected as its president next month.Therefore, he is in full political mode, and I have no doubt that his publicly stated opinion reflects what his support base wants to hear. This close to an election, Coe is not going to adopt a stance that alienates his electorate.The deduction, then, is that "Leave our sport alone, we are beyond reproach."Then last week, the latest developments saw the announcement of retrospective testing results. This is where authorities store urine and blood samples taken from athletes and then retest them years after the event, because with time, the quality of testing methods often improves.The testing, on samples obtained in 2005 and 2007, revealed 32 positive cases missed at the time. Already one athlete, Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse, will lose her Olympic and World silver medals as a result.That is, of course, a good thing - the ability to catch dopers at any time is one of the most important aspects of its deterrent nature. It says to dopers that they may feel safe today, but that their cheating may catch up with them years later. If this could be allied to financial penalties to recover prize money, it may help dent the perception of impotent anti-doping procedures.However, with this good news comes the somewhat discouraging realisation that at least one in five samples was positive, and undetected at the time of competition.This confirms the problem Coe felt was a declaration of war, while "better late than never" is scant consolation for athletes who have lost out on glory, medal ceremonies and the direct and indirect financial rewards that come from winning medals at the time.Also discouraging is that most of these failed tests are for a drug called stanozolol. Olympic enthusiasts may recall this is the steroid for which Ben Johnson was famously disqualified after winning the 100m title in the 1988 Olympics.A 30-year-old drug therefore still plays a role in the sport today, which doesn't say much for either anti-doping's potency or the respect given it by athletes, if they are still prepared to use it.One wonders how many more drugs - old, new, detectable and undetectable - are in use, waiting to be discovered in, say, 2023?The 2015 World Championships get under way on Saturday in China.It's difficult to embrace the excitement of competition, given what has emerged over the past month. The greatest, and saddest, irony of all is that the greater the on-track performances in Beijing, the more the mistrust will grow...