SEVENTY days from now, the curtain will rise on the 31st Olympic Games, or as those organising this four-yearly shebang would have it, the Games of the XXXI Olympiad.

Oh, how the suits love a bit of Latin - and let's hope they enjoy dishing out a bit of justice too.

For there are two issues that need to be addressed in order that the Games of the XXXI Olympiad live up to the lofty Olympic ideals espoused by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the driving force behind the modern Games.

The first of these is that Russia should be banned from competing in Rio, come what may.

The second is that athletes past and present who have been denied medals, or had to settle for lesser medals, in previous games due to the actions of subsequently proven cheats should receive their just rewards on their sports' respective podia in Rio.

The endemic, systemic doping in which Russian athletes have been involved - unveiled last autumn - led to a provisional track and field ban by the IAAF that, it seems, no-one believes will still be in place come August.

Revelations in the past couple of weeks that Russians are among those whose retested samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics have indicated failed drug tests should seal the fact, not only of a track and field ban, but of Russia's exclusion from the Olympics as a whole.

Sadly however, the suits who run athletics look set to bend over backwards to get the Russian track and field ban lifted in time for Rio.

And it seems that a total ban is unlikely, no matter how many Russian sportsmen and sportswomen, in no matter how many Olympic sports, are found to have failed tests during, or in the run-up to, recent Games.

The suits who run the Olympic Games - and there may be a degree of overlap between athletics suits and Olympic suits - are petrified of anything that might detract from the Games.

That includes the exclusion of a major participant, even though that exclusion would send out the most powerful message about the fate that befalls those who seek to besmirch the Games' ideals.

There is of course, the prospect of a ban on Russia triggering withdrawals from countries sympathetic to Russia, or under obligation to Russia for non-sporting reasons.

It would be marvellous if the suits were to take the view that if others want to pull out that is up to them, but if that means we have a cleaner, less compromised Games, then so be it.

However, the signs are not good. Indeed, there have been no signs at all, that a Games-wide ban is even being considered.

The other factors mitigating against a ban of course, are advertising, and media and broadcasting rights.

Maximising the global 'pull' of the Games by having as many countries as possible competing is in turn vital in maximising revenue from these sources.

In other words, non-sporting factors and the money associated with them, unduly influence the imposition of punishments for cheating in sport.

More worrying is the sense that the suits who make these decisions know that this is wrong, but are prepared to put up with the cynicism of sports fans in return for making money.

As for righting past wrongs, it is simply not acceptable that Olympians deprived of medals by cheats in past games should have to receive their medals through the post, or in low key ceremonies behind closed doors, or at smaller sporting occasions.

It is not acceptable either that Olympic Games organisers wring their hands and attempt to pass off these medal injustices as incidents for which they have no responsibility.

The sophistication of drug cheating may mean that the authorities are always playing catch-up in identifying many wrongdoers and the banned substances they take. But the fact remains that this cheating takes place at Olympic Games.

This week, it has been revealed that British javelin thrower Goldie Sayers may be in line to receive a retrospective bronze medal from the Beijing Games.

She finished fourth in 2008 despite setting a British record, but it has been revealed this week that the Russian athlete who finished second is among those whose retested samples from those Games suggest a failed drugs test.

Sayers found out about the possibility of belated Olympic redemption in the non-too-glorious circumstances of a car breakdown on a motorway.

She has since described how the disappointment of narrowly failing in Beijing drove her to overtrain and as a consequence pick up injuries that have played a big part in disrupting her subsequent career.

She has also missed out on lucrative fees for competing as an Olympic medallist.

There are plenty of others like Sayers who have been sorely cheated by the cheats.

If the suits want to cleanse the tarnished image of the Games they ought to invite and pay for those robbed of medals by cheats in Beijing and other Olympics to attend in Rio to receive their backdated medals in the appropriate surroundings, while basking in deserved applause.

They won't countenance this, because it would be too public an acceptance of past wrongdoing by other members of the so-called Olympic family.

But they should have the courage and magnanimity to front up.