Nicklas Bäckström tested positive shortly before the Winter Olympic ice hockey final in Sochi ©Getty Images



The fact this substance is not banned in the National Hockey League, where Bäckström plies his club trade for the Washington Capitals, was a complicating factor. After months of negotiations he was handed a reprimand, the minimum applicable sanction permitted by the WADA Code.

Kazakh boxer Almat Serimov, an Astana Arlans team-member in the World Series of Boxing, has also been handed a two-year ban, for a failure which apparently arose because he took pills containing prohibited substance to remedy a high blood pressure, but forgot to apply for an exemption.

Two British athletes, 800 metres runner Gareth Warburton and 400m hurdler Rhys Williams, were others to come a cropper due to using substances, doing so last summer shortly before each was due to compete for Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

A review has now found both ingested anabolic steroid metabolites contaminated within a blackcurrant Mountain Fuel Xtreme Energy and they have served bans of six and four months respectively but will now face no further punishment.

"I'm not going to give stuff to them that has anabolic steroids in it," Mountain Fuel chief executive Darren Foote told BBC Wales. "I'm just chuffed the guys are back in running. I stood by them all the way, I'm glad the truth has come out, they are genuinely 100 per cent good guys."

This last comment, that the duo are "100 per cent good guys" is particularly revealing. While these two seemingly are innocent, we must get away from the feeling that doping is a good guys/bad guys argument. An athlete is not automatically clean because they are "too nice" and neither is one automatically a cheat because they are from a certain country, or a perceived "bad guy".

And of course, our understanding of someone's true character by observing their public utterances from afar, can be fatally flawed - think, Lance Armstrong, the heroic cancer surviving charity pioneer, for example.

Lance Armstrong was presented as a heroic cancer survivor until his dark secret was revealed ©Getty Images



Even more complicated is the case involving German speed skater Claudia Pechstein. A five-time Winter Olympic champion across four Games, in 2009 Pechstein became the first athlete banned for doping based on solely circumstantial evidence, when she was issued with a two year doping ban over elevated blood levels in her biological passport.

Pleading innocence and putting the irregular levels of reticulocytes in her blood down to an inherited condition from her father, Pechstein launched an unsuccessful appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but she has now - in a highly significant move - been granted permission to have her case heard in a German Civil Court.

This not only sets a precedent for future cases being heard in non-sporting courts, but it also re-raises the question of drugs cheats facing criminal prosecution, and potentially jail, for their actions. A proposed law in this regard was presented at the German Bundestag in Berlin before Christmas, and will be put to the country's Parliament in the spring.

Similar proposals have been suggested in other nations, such as Kenya, but the idea has been staunchly criticised by many, including WADA President Sir Craig Reedie. Yes, there would be many potential problems of any criminalisation of doping, including the simple fact that something would be illegal for one group of people but permitted for others, but neither should the idea should be completely cast aside.

Doping is a huge problem, and if this is what is takes to eradicate it, then so be it.

Further evidence of the lack of improvement was implied by a study showing that stanozolol, the anabolic steroid that triggered Ben Johnson's positive test at the Seoul 1988 Olympics 26 and a half years ago, was responsible for more doping cases in 2014 than any other single cause.

One response prioritised in the new World Anti Doping Code is punishing those who encourage or assist athletes who dope. Some early exposure was provided over the weekend by a case involving the former girlfriend of Italy's disgraced Olympic race walking champion Alex Schwazer, who allegedly lied to doctors to help cover up his use of erythropoietin (EPO).

Carolina Kostner is facing a 16 month ban after allegedly helping her former boyfriend dope ©AFP/Getty Images



The case has become higher profile by the fact the girlfriend in question was former figure skating world champion Carolina Kostner. She has been handed a 16-month ban, casting into doubt her participation at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, but she is expected to appeal the decision to CAS.

One thing which all of these cases have in common is that the defendants - with the possible exception of the Kazakh boxer - are successful athletes from western nations, consequently enjoying access to the best legal support, a luxury many other cannot afford.

A final case, and perhaps the most interesting of all this week, involves another disgraced Olympic champion race walker, Russia's Elena Lashmanova. The IAAF in investigating after reports she competed in an event in Russia despite the fact she is currently serving a two-year doping ban, a blatant breach of rules which, if proven, should result in a two year extension.

Speaking last week, Russian Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev said that doping will soon disappear in Russia. 

"I will guarantee to you that in the near future, after carrying out a difficult process, we will clean our hands of this dirt," he told Reuters. "We are not working to support doping - we are fighting against it."

But, unfortunately, all the evidence, including the latest allegations involving Lashmanova suggest there remains a long way to go.

Expect many more doping case in 2015 for us to get our teeth stuck into, involving Russians but also many athletes from elsewhere.

Nick Butler is a Senior Reporter for insidethegames. To follow him on Twitter click here.