Where have all the legends gone?

No more, for much of it has become tainted either by drug abuse or lack of quality.

Take the Olympics. From the dark days of Ben Johnson, who won the 100m by a street only to fail a drugs test, it's been pretty much downhill.

Now with athletes and cyclists regularly found to have taken performance enhancing substances, it's difficult to tell the genuine from the cheat.

As a result interest has become diluted, affected by that suspicion. All of which is unfortunate for those who have dedicated the past four years towards achieving Olympic glory without so much as a sideways glance at anything resembling a drug.

But the few drag the rest down with them, so that what was once compelling viewing is now worthy of little more than passing interest, and victory is accompanied by the inevitable questions.

All of which is so unfortunate for the Nicole Cooke's of this world, who have such a hard act to follow with the likes of the incomparable Sir Stephen Redgrave, but it's yet another example of the corrupt society we live in.

And where is the real star material? Where is the Michael Johnson on the athletics track? Absolutely nowhere. As for the cricket, all this euphoria about what? England are on a roll, but beating the West Indies these days is on a par with getting the better of Bangladesh.

The Windies are a shadow of the great cricketing nation they once were. The days of the three Ws - Weekes, Worrell and Walcott - are long since gone, and so are the days of Hall and Griffith, Sobers, Gibbs and Richards.

In more recent times players like Curtley Ambrose and Courtney Walsh have kept the flames flickering, but now the Windies are a complete shambles, rudderless and punchless.

Sure, Brian Lara is capable of the odd few hundred at the crease, though his captaincy is nowhere near the mark, but that apart the bowling is toothless and the batting mediocre. Some members of the team wouldn't even make a struggling English county side.

Andy Flintoff has become the great entertainer, emptying bars once he walks to the crease which is an achievement in itself when downing pints is often the main purpose.

He's often majestic with his clean hitting, but who is he performing against?

You can only beat what's in front of you, of course, but I would much rather wait until the Aussies arrive next summer before making hasty judgements.

How will England's bowlers perform against batting of the calibre of Hayden, Langer, Ponting, Gilchrist and others? How many five wicket hauls will Ashley Giles manage then? None at all would be my guess.

And how will the batting manage against Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne & Co? How many centuries will England rattle up then? Very few, if any, I would suggest.

McGrath is already predicting a 3-0 series triumph. I wouldn't mind betting on such a result, and then we'll see where England really are - about as prominent in the world game as the football team, though the manager is doing his best to break records of another kind which have nothing to do with sport, not the outdoor variety anyway.

Which leaves us with golf, and the last of the year's majors starting this week, the US PGA. Little scandal here, but with it's own time bomb waiting in the shape of the Ryder Cup in America on the horizon.

There have been promises of no repeats of the unsavoury scabre rattling which so marred the event the last time it was held in the States, the crowd almost wrecking it with their misplaced patriotism.

I wouldn't bet against something similar happening this time, but the best chance of avoiding it is the drubbing Europe will surely suffer at the hands of the Americans.

The summer has been notable for the absence of real European challenge at the top of leader boards, and there's no sign of it happening either this weekend or in the Ryder Cup.

A dismal summer all round, therefore, and I can't see much in the way of any relief. There will be the sound and fury of the Olympics, more histrionics about our Test team, but it will all signify precisely nothing.