And just as the nature of the war itself has altered following the repulse of Russia’s blitzkrieg effort to capture the capital Kyiv, so have attitudes within the world of sport over the question of whether Russian and Belarusian athletes should be excluded from competition.

The most profound shift has occurred within the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which recommended just four days after the invasion that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be banned from all international competition due to the invasion but which has since backed their participation in the Paris 2024 Games as "neutrals".

The IOC recommendation on February 28 hastened and hardened the response of much of the international sporting world.

The IOC also withdrew the Olympic Order from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Kremlin deputy chief of staff Dmitry Kozak.

After making it clear that it would not normally seek to punish athletes for the decisions of a Government if they were not actively participating in them, the IOC said that the war in Ukraine was an exceptional circumstance and the IOC Executive Committee had made the decision in order to "protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all participants."

Russia and Belarus were additionally condemned for breaking the Olympic Truce.

At the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, IOC President Thomas Bach had called for politicians to follow the example of athletes and "give peace a chance." Four days later the invasion began.

"Sometimes you wish you could do more and this was the wish I expressed in the Closing Ceremony...then you see that all the efforts were for nothing, that this inspiration was not strong enough and then it’s horrifying," Bach told Reuters on March 3.

"It's really horrifying.

"Again, we are coming to our limits. We have no police force, we have no military.

"There we can only offer moral support and can help to shed the light on this situation, but there our influence ends.”

And yet, in the intervening months, the position of the IOC has shifted to the point where, on February 18 this year, the European Union passed a resolution condemning it for moving to explore ways of allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the Paris 2024 Games as "neutrals."

The motion was adopted with 444 votes in favour, 26 against and 37 abstentions.

It stated that allowing competitors from the two countries to participate, as neutrals or not, "runs counter to those countries' multifaceted isolation and will be used by both regimes for propaganda purposes."

The resolution also urges its 27 member nations to pressure the IOC into reversing its decision which has been labelled as "an embarrassment to the international world of sport."

In the wake of the IOC’s February 28 statement a number of International Federations announced that they would comply with the recommendation, including World Athletics, the International Skating Union, the International Gymnastics Federation, World Rugby, World Sailing, the World Baseball Softball Confederation, Badminton World Federation, International Ski Federation (FIS), World Pentathlon, the International Canoe Federation, the International Equestrian Federation, the International Surfing Association, World Triathlon, World Archery and the International Table Tennis Association.

The FIS also joined that list after strong pressure from the Norwegian Ski Federation.

On March 2 the European Olympic Committees (EOC) said it had "with reluctance" banned Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials from the Winter European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) from March 20 to 25, citing a desire to protect participants' wellbeing and the integrity of the event.

The International Weightlifting Federation confirmed on March 3 that it had suspended the participation of all athletes, team officials and technical officials from the two nations until further notice, as well as having no sanctioned events in the countries.

On March 26 the Munich 2022 European Championships Board said it had decided to not allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials at its events.

The decision was taken after consulting with the nine participating federations.

Those federations were European Athletics, European Volleyball Confederation, European Canoe Association, European Cycling Union, European Gymnastics, World Rowing, International Federation of Sport Climbing, European Table Tennis Union and Europe Triathlon.

The IOC stance also may have been influential in a shift of the original position being held by FIFA, football’s international body - although the robust statements by the football associations of Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic were even more of a leverage.

FIFA’s initial stance following the Ukraine invasion was to restrict the Russian national team to playing under the banner of the "Russia Football Union."

But Poland, Sweden and the Czech Republic all said they would refuse to play Russia in FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Soon afterwards FIFA banned the Russian team from competition.

Other major International Federations operated in a similar manner to FIFA with regard to sanctions on Russian competitors, shifting to tougher positions due to the weight of opinion within their sports.

On March 8, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) announced Russian and Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete as neutrals, with FINA claiming it had a legally robust option to exclude them "if their attendance threatens the safety and wellbeing of athletes or places the conduct of competition at risk".

But on March 23 FINA agreed to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from competing in any of its events following a review of an independent risk assessment.

Several countries had threatened to boycott the World Championships if athletes from those two countries competed in Budapest.

Tennis has chosen to censure officials while allowing athletes to continue to compete as neutrals.

This has given players such as Russia’s Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev the ability to compete - although not at Wimbledon, which has run into conflict with the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) by maintaining a unilateral ban on Russian and Belarusian players, saying it does not want their performances to be used for propaganda purposes.

WTA chief executive Steve Simon strongly defended the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian players to remain in competition.

"I feel very, very strongly that again these individual athletes should not be the ones that are being penalised by the decisions of an authoritarian leadership that is obviously doing terrible, reprehensible things," Simon told the BBC.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) - representing the sport that is perhaps closest to Putin’s heart - adopted a rigorous but more complex position in their bold announcement of February 27, the day before the IOC’s big reveal, that the Russian President would be stripped of his status as Honorary President of the Federation and his ally Arkady Rotenberg was to be ditched as development director on the Executive Board.

All IJF events in Russia were also cancelled. But its athletes, and those of Belarus, were allowed to continue competing as neutrals.

As it turned out, Russia withdrew from international judo events on March 14 because it feared for its competitor’s safety, with the Russian Judo Federation also admitting that, following the invasion of Ukraine, it would be difficult for athletes to obtain entry to several countries.

By autumn last year the IOC were strongly emphasising that it was consideration of athlete safety that had caused them to recommend the absence of Russian and Belarusian athletes from international competition.

On that subject they were clearly not the only sporting body to have concerns.

Four days after the IOC recommendation not to include Russian and Belarusian athletes the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) went the other way, announcing that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be able to compete in the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics, albeit under the Paralympic flag and without being included in the medals table.

The very next day the IPC position hardened as it announced that Russian and Belarusian athletes would not be allowed to compete at Beijing 2022.

The shift came after multiple National Paralympic Committees threatened a boycott, forcing the IPC Governing Board into a change.

IPC President Andrew Parsons said nations were "likely to withdraw" if the two teams were not banned, stating there would not be a "viable Games".

He added that the environment in the Paralympic family was worsening as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, with many National Paralympic Committees taking issue with the IPC's original stance.

Towards the end of the year Bach began to emphasise that "no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport."

As was pointed out in a blog by insidethegames editor-in-chief Duncan Mackay: "This ignored the precedent of South Africa, whose athletes were banned by the IOC from 1964 until 1992 because of the country’s apartheid policies.

"Before South Africa, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were banned by the IOC from the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp on account of their roles in World War One, and Germany and Japan were not invited to London 1948 after World War Two."

On December 9 another significant step was taken as the 11^th Olympic Summit, chaired by Bach, agreed unanimously to follow up an initiative proposed by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to enable Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in its competitions.

Members in Lausanne agreed that the IOC should "lead the further exploration of the OCA initiative concerning the participation of athletes who are in full respect of the Olympic Charter and the sanctions."

"This initiative {is} to be discussed in the next round of IOC consultation calls with the IOC members, the athletes’ representatives, the International Federations and the National Olympic Committees," the IOC said.

It was understood the OCA was considering the addition of Russian and Belarusian athletes to some of its Paris 2024 qualifying events.

On January 25 an IOC statement confirmed a desire to "explore a pathway" for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals at Paris 2024, and referred to the "unifying mission of the Olympic Movement … encouraging it to live up to this unifying mission, particularly in these times of division, confrontation and war."

The statement came less than 24 hours after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had spoken to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and during the call had asked for his help in ensuring that there were no athletes from Russia or Belarus at Paris 2024.

On February 3, Zelenskyy offered a video invitation to Bach to return to Ukraine, which he had last visited in July 2022, to visit the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut and "see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist", adding: "any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood."

The invitation was met with an IOC response saying "currently there are no plans for another visit to Ukraine."

Meanwhile the President of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee Vadym Guttsait had warned that his country will consider boycotting Paris 2024 if Russia and Belarus are present.

A growing number of European nations have also expressed their opposition to the possible reintroduction of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk reportedly said that "Poland and Britain are at the forefront" of efforts to create a coalition against the participation of Russia and Belarus at Paris 2024 and claimed that countries "may issue an ultimatum" should they compete.

The IOC warned that Ukraine would be in violation of the Olympic Charter if they boycotted Paris 2024.

However an impromptu International Summit held early in February by a group of 35 nations presented a further likely challenge to Bach as they were expected to demand that the IOC banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from Paris 2024.

Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk said it was "not time to talk about a boycott yet" but suggested that a refugee team of dissidents could compete as a "compromise".

Meanwile Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin has claimed that more than 4,000 athletes from 22 countries are set to participate in the multi-sport event branded the International University Sports Festival in Yekaterinburg next year.

The Russian city had been set to stage the International University Sports Federation (FISU) World University Games, but had its hosting rights suspended due to the war in Ukraine.

The replacement festival was announced as part of a Russian-Chinese sporting initiative, entitled the Years of Russian-Chinese Cooperation in Sports in 2022 and 2023, which was confirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in October.

While the main focus over the past year has been on the statements and shifts of sporting organisations there has also been much attention given to the actions of individual athletes from both Ukraine and Russia.

Russian tennis players Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev took the opportunity to offer their views on the Russian incursion to a worldwide audience.

Medvedev, who was world number one for 11 weeks of 2022, was relatively prudent when asked about the situation but did insist: "I’m all for peace."

Andrey Rublev indicated his position a little more clearly when he wrote "No war please" on a TV camera lens as he left court following a match.

However other Russian athletes have come out strongly in support of the war.

At the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup event that took place in Doha from March 4 to 5 - the last at which Russian and Belarusian gymnasts could take part before the FIG ban came into effect on March 7, Russia’s parallel bars bronze medallist Ivan Kuliak appeared on the podium sporting a “Z” symbol on his chest that denoted support for his country’s actions in Ukraine.

Kuliak, who was subjected to immediate disciplinary action after what FIG described as his "shocking behaviour", said he would have done the same again if he had the choice.

On March 18 double Olympic swimming champion Evgeny Rylov was one of eight athletes identified wearing the same "Z" symbol at a pro-war rally hosted by Putin at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, main venue for the 1980 Olympics which also hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

For many, the question of whether Ukrainian and Russian competitors, even under neutral colours, could co-exist at a major sporting championship has been answered by this week’s report of the fighting that took place between Ukrainian and Russian football teams who found themselves staying in the same hotel in Turkey following the earthquake chaos.

From the point of view of Ukraine’s athletes, none has been more high profile than women’s Olympic high jump bronze medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

After winning the world indoor title in Belgrade last March the 20-year-old described how she had fled Russian shelling in her home city of Dnipro and taken a three-day car journey to Belgrade, where she won the world indoor title.

"I didn’t think I was doing it for myself or my medal, I was doing it for all the Ukrainian nation, to show that we are the strongest in the world," said Mahuchikh.

"I want to show Ukrainian people are strong people. They never give up. Our military protect our country at home and today I protect my country on the track.

"Before we went to the field, the only thought in my mind was about Ukraine because too many terrible things have happened there.

"I even doubted that I could jump at all, but my coach said I must go out and perform with the shape and fitness I had before the start of the Russian invasion."

Many other Ukrainian athletes made an impact on the debate in silence.

Sixteen-year-old Ukrainian national junior sambo champion Artem Pryimenko was killed along with his father, mother, grandmother and two brothers during a Russian airstrike carried out on the town of Sumy.

Ukrainian figure skater Dymtro Sharpar, who competed in the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, was killed fighting in Bakhmut.

Volodymyr Androshchuk, a 22-year-old track and field athlete who was a member of the Ukrainian national team, was another to have died in battle.

This week’s call by the German Canoe Association (DKV) for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) "to clarify fundamental questions in sport" clearly expresses the current divisions within world sport.

The DKV reiterated its vow to maintain the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian canoeists from international events in Germany.

"We are aware that a reintegration of Russian and Belarusian athletes into the world of sports, as suggested by the IOC, would be extremely difficult," DKV President Jens Perlwitz said.

"In our opinion, the current trend emanating from the IOC is not in line with the Olympic Movement.

"You have to think hard about whether a state that is waging aggressive war is allowed to be part of the Olympic family, whether that state is allowed to host the Olympic Games and whether athletes from that state are allowed to participate in the Games."

The DKV agreed to maintain its own ban on canoeists from Russia and Belarus, originally introduced in March last year, at the most recent meeting of its Präsidium (Executive Committee).

"Our unanimous position in the DKV Präsidium has not changed in the last year," Perlwitz said.

"Since nothing has changed in the situation in Ukraine since last year and peace is currently not foreseeable, there are hardly any possibilities for reintegration.

"We show solidarity with Ukraine and sincerely hope for peace."

The DKV has also set out its own "prerequisite for the approval of independent athletes" at its future competitions.

It asked "how can real neutrality be guaranteed?" and called for safeguards to avoid "pro-Russian political statements".

It also questioned "how should the attitude of Russian athletes and athletes' coaches to the war be credibly tested?" and "how to ensure independence of athletes whose preparation is supported by the Russian state?"

The National Federation also raised concerns that German canoeists might refuse to compete against Russians for "reasons of conscience."