The IOC’s announcement earlier this week that Russia would be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang was monumental. Never before has an entire nation been banned from participating in an Olympic Games but Russia’s misdemeanours became too severe for even the IOC to ignore.

At a press conference in Lausanne on Tuesday, IOC President Thomas Bach, said Russia’s actions had been “an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport”.

At first glance, it seemed that the IOC have taken a strong stance against Russia. Don’t get too excited though, because there remains much to be concerned about.

The IOC revealed that it will invite clean Russian athletes to compete at the Winter Olympics in February under the name ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ (OAR). This is not hugely surprising – following the IAAF’s suspension of Russia, they too allowed a select few Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag at last year’s Rio Olympics and at this summer’s World Athletics Championships.

Following Bach’s announcement, there were further reports that the Russian authorities were positively thrilled at the compromise that had been reached. And the inclusion of ‘Russia’ in the title of the team name is extremely unusual when previously, athletes in circumstances like this did so under the banner of ‘Olympic Independent Athletes’ or suchlike.

Given the evidence, it is impossible to ignore the suggestion that a compromise between the IOC and the Russians was reached. Was the inclusion of ‘Russia’ in the team title a concession to avoid any potential boycott? It is almost impossible to think otherwise.

What is most depressing about this move is that it all but confirms, if anyone remained in any doubt, that clean sport is far from the top priority of the IOC. Yes, they have finally sanctioned Russia, but there has been considerable evidence about state-sponsored doping for over four years. Rather than investigate the newspaper reports which offered evidence, the IOC chose to ignore them. For a number of years, Bach batted away criticisms of Russia. Numerous times, he appeared exasperated at being questioned about the mounting evidence against the country’s authorities. Ahead of Rio 2016, Bach talked of ‘individual justice’ rather than ‘collective responsibility’, despite the fact that the lack of action against the Russian team as a whole devalued the Games significantly and served as a slap in the face to the genuinely clean athletes. And Bach was always quick to rebuke those who called for sanctions on Russia, calling them ‘premature’.

Bach was also not slow to blame the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and while they were far from faultless, much of the responsibility for this mess lies at the feet of the IOC. And this week’s actions give me little confidence that there is a real appetite to clean up the Olympic Games.

It seems that the decision to ban Russia from Pyeongchang but allow their athletes to compete under the banner of ‘Olympic Athletes from Russia’ is for political reasons more than as a result of any real desire to punish a country that has done untold damage to the reputation of sport.

The IOC also said on Tuesday that they wanted to ‘draw a line under this damaging episode’ and, it has been mooted, the way they will do that is by lifting the suspension before the Closing Ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games, allowing the Russian team to parade under the Russian flag.

What a farce. There were times when I thought that WADA’s conduct in this doping mess was as bad as it could get but the IOC are giving them a run for their money.

As Nick Harris, the journalist who initially broke the Russian doping story in 2013, said on Twitter: “The IOC do not give a sh*t about doping. Not a jot. They remain conflicted and utterly rotten. Dopers can carry on, largely with impunity. Because the guardians of sport don’t give a toss. Why should anyone else?”

It is impossible to disagree. The IOC have proven that they have little interest in really changing sport, rather, they will do as little as they think they can get away with. This is a sad week for sport. And it’s likely there will be more of this to come.