The extent of the new allegations regarding doping within international athletics is mind-boggling, and the accusations alarming if found to be true.
The revelations relate to hundreds of athletes of various nationalities, competing at some of the world's most high-profile sporting events.
The information reportedly comes from International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) files containing the results of some 12,000 blood tests of 5000 athletes.
The files were leaked to German broadcaster ARD and British newspaper the Sunday Times, which tasked two anti-doping experts with their analysis.
Their conclusion alleges widespread cheating by endurance athletes - including numerous medal winners - at events at the Olympics and World Championships from 2001 to 2012, and negligence by the IAAF.
According to the findings of the combined investigation, the tests of 800 athletes are regarded as ''suspicious''.
Russia's athletes topped the list; Kenyan athletes also figured prominently.
The experts say, in some cases, some or all of the medal holders in a particular event had recorded suspicious blood tests.
The IAAF has vigorously defended its anti-doping programme, and while the implication is that there is no smoke without fire, it must be remembered the allegations are just that.
However, given the context and potential ramifications, the spotlight needs to be put firmly on the organisation - and all the countries whose athletes have been identified.
That is because the data relates in part to blood tests carried out for events after 2009 - the year in which the IAAF introduced ''biological passports'' for professional athletes, which are supposed to detect doping violations by monitoring athletes' biological markers over time.
The data also covers the 2012 London Olympic Games, whose organisers boasted a strict drug-testing regime and multimillion-dollar testing laboratory.
New Zealand learnt the hard way the Games were far from ''clean'', and shot-putter Valerie Adams was eventually awarded the Olympic women's shot put gold medal after Nadzeya Ostapchuk was stripped of it after testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid.
(New Zealand runner Nick Willis previously had his 2008 1500m Olympic bronze medal upgraded to a silver after a Bahrain runner failed a drugs test.)
The wider context is also impossible to ignore.
The spectre of Lance Armstrong and the current Fifa corruption scandal cast long shadows and bring into question once again the role of sports governing bodies - and the sanctity of sport itself.
For that is at the heart of the matter.
The phrase ''a level playing field'' may be an overworked one, but it is essential in competitive sport.
After all, it is the idea that an individual can triumph against the odds that provides the incentive and fulfilment for athletes - not to mention the excitement for spectators.
Fair-minded athletes must have confidence they are judged on their skill, training and grit; that their hard work is not for nought.
They must have confidence other competitors are playing by the rules, authorities are enforcing those rules, and athletes and countries which break them are held to account.
If that cannot be guaranteed, it overshadows future events - such as this month's World Athletics Championships in Beijing - and has the potential to tarnish all codes.
The weekend's events are already generating discussion in various countries about creating legislation which criminalises the use of banned substances in sport in a bid to clamp down on drug cheats.
There is no doubt those seeking to undermine the system for personal gain and national influence are sophisticated, and authorities face a difficult and neverending job, but it is essential
any discrepancies be investigated in order to determine whether there has been cheating, negligence or collusion.
The imminent election of a new IAAF president will provide an opportunity for the organisation to examine its systems.
Other international sport federations should follow suit.
For governing bodies must reassure the world their own houses are in order if they are to hold athletes and countries to account.
