The five stages of grief are well-known. They are denial and isolation; anger; bargaining; depression; and, finally, acceptance.

This pattern could well apply to world sport where the dark spectre of doping looms larger than ever.

We are seeing freakishly fast times and power ratios at the Tour de France while doping fiend Justin Gatlin is burning up tracks all over Europe with performances that defy belief. Even locally, visitors to the Craven Week spoke of some players being unnaturally big.

Lance Armstrong rode two stages of the Tour de France route last week as part of a charity drive. Having experienced four of the aforementioned phases since his grand mea culpa, he is now working towards acceptance.

Cycling’s biggest fraud not only raised an eyebrow at Chris Froome’s efforts, but he was indignant about how he remains a pariah while so many senior figures on Le Tour have doping histories.

“Why am I not welcome? Because I’m a doper? If that were the rule, the caravan would almost be empty,” he tartly remarked.

It says much for our misplaced sense of morality that dopers (and their enablers) are not only welcomed back, but often celebrated, their misdeeds all but forgotten.

Gatlin’s case is extraordinary. Twice he has been banned and twice he has been welcomed back into the fold. The first time he tested positive he claimed it was due to medication for a disorder. The second time he was nailed for testosterone. His excuse? Cream applied by a masseur.

He copped four years. But he couldn’t stay away. Now he’s the world’s top-ranked sprinter, having run 9.74sec for the 100m and 19.57sec for the 200m this year. Nike has even signed him up.

Athletics faces the very real, very awkward possibility of a doper standing atop the podium as the fastest man on earth when the world championship takes place next month.

It’s an uncomfortable truth for the sport to digest, but Gatlin’s ascension is a possibility, particularly as Usain Bolt’s form is scratchy. He’s been injured and hasn’t run much.

It’s difficult not to question Gatlin. His feats defy biology, especially at an age when sprinters ought to be slowing down. He’s 33.

Bolt was 22 when he ran 9.58sec to break his world record in 2009.

It’s true that Linford Christie ran his personal best at 33, but we know all about his past.

Given Gatlin’s history, and lack of contrition, it is impossible not being sceptical. He’s frequently tested, it’s true, but as anyone knows, doping is a game of cat and mouse. The smartest wins.

Bolt is very much the conscience of athletics. Not only its greatest protagonist – six Olympic gold medals give him that status – Bolt is also the compelling example of a clean athlete producing excellence. Or so we hope.

Lining up alongside him in Beijing next month, apart from Gatlin, will be other dopers in the shape of Mike Rodgers and Tyson Gay. Rodgers tested positive in 2011.

Fellow American Gay tested positive for anabolic steroids two years ago. He had a two-year ban reduced to one for cooperating with authorities. He’s back now and will be in the medal hunt. Bolt was irked enough to say that Gay should have been thrown out of the sport for good.

It’s going to be damn hard knowing who to cheer for when the 100m final takes place.

It’s a lot like the Tour de France, a race so absorbed by chaos and controversy you can never quite be sure what you are watching.

Experts are openly questioning Froome’s speeds, a sad, inevitable consequence of the Tour’s tainted past. Froome, remember, has never been bust for doping, but Team Sky went so far as to release some of his performance data in an effort to end doping speculation. This stuff is normally top secret, but shows how cynical the sport has become. No-one knows what to believe.

All this does is play into the narrative that sport is indeed a game; like games it can be manipulated, massaged and messed with. Gatlin and the Tour de France buccaneers need to know – we choose to believe, or not, strictly on our terms. – © Sunday Tribune