One of the major preoccupations before the start of the Olympic Games in Beijing was that doping scandals would have marred the beauty of the event and dealt a big blow to the credibility of sport.

Now that the Games are over, it must be said that the number of doping scandals was fewer than anticipated – four as against the 30 or so that were being predicted by the International Olympic Committee.

This may be interpreted as having been a victory of sport over cheaters, but things are not as crystal clear as the numbers might be showing.

For one thing, a comprehensive exercise to weed out athletes who use illicit substances was carried out before the Games started. In all, some 45 athletes from 11 countries were not allowed to participate, and this strategy kept the number of doping cases during the Games low. If those 45 had gone to Beijing, we would now be speaking of record doping cases – in Athens four years ago there were 26.

Secondly, considering that in past editions athletes managed to escape the strict doping controls – and then admit to taking illicit substances to enhance their performances later, even when their career was over – leads to scepticism as to whether the four athletes who were caught were the only ones who tried to cheat. There may have been others who have also cheated, and they may take their secret to the grave.

And the question that arises from the results of the 45,000 doping tests that were carried out in China over the past two weeks or so is simple – is sports really winning the battle against doping, or have cheaters found ways to go on taking substances that are not allowed that are yet to be discovered by the sport authorities?

Who is a step ahead? Is it the sport authorities with their constant, regular and sometimes unannounced out of competition testing of athletes? Or is it the athletes themselves and those behind them, who have discovered how they could hide the taking of illicit substances?

These questions are difficult, probably impossible, to answer. As yet, the world of sport is happy because the Beijing Games were successful, both in terms of organisations as well as the high level achieved in most disciplines. But what will happen if, in a few years’ time, it is discovered that there were more athletes who cheated than the ones who have been caught?

Will myths be shattered, as was the case with United States athlete Marion Jones? Will sport continue to survive if a victory that is celebrated and acclaimed today turns out to have been obtained with the help of performance-enhancing substances?

Sport lovers have enjoyed 16 days of broken records, races won and lost by milliseconds, big countries taking home tens of medals, smaller countries celebrating a bronze or even an unprecedented high placing, world stars who lived up to their name and others who disappointed, unknown athletes surprising the rest with amazing comebacks and minor sport disciplines getting a kind of attention that only the Olympic Games can give them.

They have also enjoyed the fact that doping cases have been few and far between, and they like to think that most athletes have learnt the lesson. Most athletes are idols for their countrymen, and are looked at as examples to emulate. They have this kind of responsibility towards others, particularly the younger generations.

And therefore athletes should live up to this responsibility by behaving according to the rules of sport. How can they live with themselves if they know that they won only because they cheated?