A Winter Olympics that was farcical, disturbing and often exceptional

At the end of a Winter Olympics like no other, moments before a furious barrage of fireworks tattooed the Beijing skyline, the president of the International Olympic Committee gave an extraordinarily upbeat assessment of these Games.

“The Olympic spirit could only shine so brightly, because the Chinese people set the stage in such an excellent way – and in a safe way,” Thomas Bach said. “The Olympic Villages were outstanding. The venues – magnificent. The organisation – extraordinary. On behalf of the best winter sport athletes of the world, I say: Thank you, our Chinese friends!”

It had been, Bach added, a “truly exceptional” Winter Games. Exceptional? Yes. But in myriad ways: good and bad.

However if there is a lasting requiem to these Games, it was soundtracked by Kirill Richter’s enchanting melody In Memoriam, the music to which the 15-year-old skater Kamila Valieva leaped and spun and performed the first quad in Olympic history during the team event.

It was the Russian’s calling card to the world. Another came less than 48 hours later when she failed a drugs test for the banned heart medication TMZ. What followed was one of the most extraordinary – and desperate weeks – in Olympic history.

By turns Valieva was vilified, hounded, supported, temporarily reprieved by the court of arbitration for sport, and then – with the eyes of the world on boring down on her in the individual event – her world finally fell apart.

She fell twice. Departed the ice in tears. And then another twist of the knife as her coach Eteri Tutberidze lashed out at her. As a spectacle it was compelling, appalling and utterly sad.

Not since Ben Johnson tested positive at the Seoul Games in 1988 has a drugs scandal so discombobulated our