If anybody still thinks that the decision to ban Russia from the Winter Olympics represents a bright day for truth and justice, it is worth considering how happy the supposed victims are about it all. Alexander Zhukov, Russia’s Olympic kingpin, exuded the relief of a man whose team had dodged a bullet .

“They are called Russian athletes and not some kind of neutrals – that’s very important,” he said. Come the closing ceremony in Pyeongchang, the country’s tricolor could, if everyone plays along, be fluttering overhead once more. It smacks less of a righteous crusade by the International Olympic Committee than of a face-saving pact between Lausanne and the Kremlin.