In the end the latest doping scandal at the Olympics has resolved itself. 

The Russian figure skater who was allowed to compete despite testing positive for a banned substance botched her performance so badly she fell out of the top three today. 

That means there’s no risk for her medalling and the problem goes away, but let’s be honest, it’s done nothing for the reputation of the Olympics. 

The minute that girl tested positive, she should have been out.

Yup, that's a harsh position to take because it would mean kicking her out of the Winter Games over what could potentially have just been a mistake. 

She said she’d accidentally taken her granddad’s heart medication and if that did prove to be the cases – unlikely – but if it did prove to be true, then booting her out meant she would have lost the opportunity of a lifetime as a young person.

But the IOC did not have that option. It needed to take that hard-line for its own reputation, because it doesn’t have the credibility to burn here.

The IOC is already a joke on doping.

Just the fact that the Russians are there at all makes a mockery of the Olympics being clean. 

Does anyone really believe that the Russian team is different just because they call themselves the ROC instead of Russia and just because they don’t compete under their own flag? 

Then there’s the double standard. 

Remember how the IOC banned the American Track and field sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson from the Summer Games for using marijuana?   

You want to tell me the IOC is prepared to take a tougher line on a drug that slows people down than on a heart medication that increases oxygen flow? 

The IOC should be breathing a sigh of relief that the figure skater bombed out today and solved the problem for them but they should also sort this out before people lose faith altogether.