The past decade has witnessed a changing face of sport as a result of those Olympics which left us with so many wondrous moments etched indelibly in our consciousness. Yet London’s much vaunted legacy is tainted. 

The relentless drive to emulate or even exceed those golden moments which brought national euphoria to Britain has seen sleaze and scandal overshadow achievement.

We must hope that Birmingham, Britain’s second city popularly known as Brum, will bequeath a more stable and substantial legacy of its own.

For while some of the spirit of 2012 lives on, particularly in the increase in grassroots participation in sporting activity, by almost two million prior to the pandemic, in other respects our sport seems to have lost its way.

The desire for win-at-all-costs glory among elite sport’s governing bodies has led to shameful episodes of bullying by coaches in several sports - among them athletics, swimming, cycling and canoeing but worst of all gymnastics.

In what has been described as a grotesque coaching culture young gymnasts were subjected to physical and mental abuse which had it been inflicted in a domestic environment, would have resulted in the perpetrators being hauled before the courts charged with child cruelty.

The Whyte Review, one of several investigations since 2012 looking at the way sport has been governed, described horrifying examples of physical aggression against kids as young as nine for failing to perform.

They were also sworn at, humiliated, deprived of food and denied toilet breaks during training camps.

The years since 2012 have also seen the exposure of racism in cricket both north and south of the border and a worrying increase of dementia among footballers and both codes of rugby players.

There is an argument that the governance of sport has become dysfunctional in the mad scramble for success.

Moreover, the fact that there were so few positive dope tests during the 2012 Olympics (eight out of more than 1,500 samples taken) allowed the man who brilliantly orchestrated them, Lord Sebastian Coe, to conclude that they might well have been the "cleanest Games ever."

Famous last words. Subsequent retesting of samples over the years following the Games indicates. that in fact they were the dirtiest ever. 

At the last count 149 athletes who competed in London have turned out to be drugs cheats, a third of them Russian. Several other cases are pending. Weightlifting, athletics and cycling provide most culprits.

Suspicion lingers over some others, including two high profile members of Team GB.

And so to Brum. What will the "Friendly Games" deliver in the way of inheritance?

Of the 10 I have covered the two in Edinburgh were the only least auspicious but there seems every chance that Birmingham will do the UK proud.

Famed for its motorway network called Spaghetti Junction, Birmingham plays host to a worldwide audience of one billion amid a cost of living crisis and political hiatus.

Alexander Stadium, where the Opening Ceremony and track and field will be held, has been been transformed, at considerable cost, into a world class venue. 

In all, some £35 million ($42 million/€41 million) of public money has been invested into Birmingham 2022. Sport England’s very able chief executive, Tim Hollingsworth, believes it will be worth it, especially in terms of the future of sport.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday he says the priority is to create inclusive and affordable local opportunities to get active.

"Birmingham 2022 offers us the opportunity to reframe what the legacy of a major sporting event could be and should be, tackling known inequalities to make it easier for everyone in society to participate at grassroots."

The hope is the Games will be clean and controversy-free. But I wouldn’t bet on it.