Most of these - save for when the rescheduled Games will be held - have not yet been answered, including what the decision to delay the Olympics and Paralympics means for anti-doping and the so-called battle for “clean sport", a crucial part of any major sports event.

Among the unintended ramifications of the postponement are that numerous athletes who would have been excluded from Tokyo 2020 had the Games taken place as planned because of a drugs ban are free to compete at the rearranged event next year.

It is a subject even World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Witold Bańka admitted is a difficult one to navigate.

Bańka told insidethegames last week that he understood the concerns athletes may have about competitors whose suspensions expire in time for them to participate at the Games, but equally conceded the system was powerless to do anything about it.

"A ban is about the length of time, it is not dedicated to concrete sports events and if they happen or not,” he said.

"When you finish your punishment, you can compete.”

There is currently no exception for extending an anti-doping sanction for athletes or coaches who have done their time, and any competitor excluded from the Games after serving their ban would undoubtedly succeed with a legal challenge.

As WADA put it, there is "no provision…to cherry-pick periods of time in which the athlete would have more or fewer events to compete in".

Nevertheless, it does seem unfair that some athletes are essentially punished more for the same offence. Before the coronavirus pandemic, a doping ban meant exactly that; now athletes are suspended from events they are unable to compete at anyway.

Solutions to a problem sparked solely by the unprecedented crisis sport finds itself in amid the COVID-19 outbreak are few and far between, and there is little suggestion from anyone in the convoluted world of anti-doping that the rules will be changed any time soon.

While confirmation that those athletes whose suspensions run out in time for the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Olympics can take part at the Games is logical, given the law, their presence in the Japanese capital will almost certainly prompt a sideways glance or a raised eyebrow from some of their fellow athletes.

According to the "global list of ineligible persons" compiled by the Athletics Integrity Unit, which handles doping cases for World Athletics, over 200 athletes in track and field fit into that bracket.

Analysis conducted by insidethegames shows the suspensions being served by 163 athletes on the list expire before the end of this year, while a further 51 can return by the end of May 2021, making for a grand total of 214. And that is just in one of the 33 sports on the Tokyo 2020 Olympic programme.

There are caveats here, of course. The number in other sports is likely to be far smaller, barely a fraction of these will be medal contenders at the Games and some have either retired or are realistically too old to be in with a chance of competing in Tokyo next year.

But the figure nonetheless gives an indication of the amount of convicted drugs cheats who could feasibly compete at Tokyo 2020.

The pandemic itself has heightened doping concerns as testing has been significantly scaled back in certain countries and halted altogether in others, including in Russia and China.

WADA has admitted that actions being taken to combat the spread of the virus may affect "athletes confidence that competitions... will be as clean as possible" and conceded there may be "gaps" in testing as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

It is little wonder why United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart said a postponement was essential for the integrity of the first Olympic Games in history to be postponed. "Without it, there would have been serious holes in the global testing programme during the critical months prior to the Games," he said.

Bańka’s warning that the crisis is not “the space for cheats" and a promise that athletes hoping to take advantage of the situation will still be caught provides a nice soundbite, but the lack of testing currently being carried out means it will be greeted with a considerable degree of scepticism from the anti-doping community.

It is also worth recalling here that this is a system which has struggled even when it was fully functional.

On the other hand, there are those, including Tygart, who believe the postponement of the Games is positive for the fight against doping.

"Now that pressure has been released with the postponement, we have bought time for robust testing to occur during the critical months before the Games, the Russia case to be decided and clean sport to prevail," he said.