SHOCK probably wasn't the correct word. But there was certainly an angry reaction from across the Scottish athletics fraternity yesterday when the full extent of the doping and cover up in the sport in Russia became public. The World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA) recommended that Russia should be immediately suspended from all athletics activity, including next summer's Olympics in Rio, after finding evidence of systematic, state-sponsored doping in the Russian system, and there weren't too many dissenting voices coming from athletes north of the border.

The timing of the news certainly wasn't great for Eilish McColgan, considering the 24-year-old steeplechaser had just been informed she was losing her British Atheltics funding going into Olympic year. McColgan, whose event at London 2012 was won by a convicted Russian doper in the form of Yuliya Zaripova, had tweeted earlier in the day that 'no wonder people cheat' but in general the day's developments were to be welcomed in the fight against doping. As disheartening as it was to find that so many clean athletes were wrongfully deprived of medals, money and their big moments - Alysia Montano, a US 800m runner, could have been deprived of as many as four major medals - McColgan was simply happy to have the example of parents Liz and Peter to prove that is possible to be clean and still be successful in the sport.

"It has not come as a huge shock," McColgan told Herald Sport. "Over the last couple of years more and more bans have been coming out, particularly from Russia, but I am just glad it is all coming out now and we can all press forward to try to get a level playing field.

"I am fortunate that it has not particularly happened to me," she added. "But she [Zaripova] was so effortless over the barriers and I loved watching her run. Obviously there were always rumours she was a drugs cheat but to find out that she actually was came as a bit of a blow. I am very lucky to have people like my mum and my dad to know that you can do it clean. But we could go all the way back to when my mum was running, there were always suspicions over the Soviet Union athletes who were running when she was running."

Lynsey Sharp, a woman already awarded a 2012 European Championship silver after the event, following disqualification of Yelena Arzhakova, was another not short in getting her point across. "My guess is the '5 Russian athletes' includes at least a couple of female middle distance athletes," she said on social media. "Bruuuuh...the names I've just seen. I feel sick."

This issue now falls, of course, on the shoulders of IAAF President Lord Seb Coe, whose first job is to restore confidence in a federation, which like Fifa before it, is suddenly struggling for credible leadership. A portion on IAAF involvement in the report as yet has not been made public but several key figures are already under investigation. McColgan feels the authorities just about retain the support of the athletes but accepts Coe has a job on his hands.

"Obviously it has been happening on quite wide scale in Russia," McColgan said. "But it isn't just Russia, drug testing still isn't equal across all countries. I was drug tested out in Kenya and it was nothing like as strict as it is in the UK.

"I still have confidence in the authorities and I know there are clean athletes out there, but it is a huge issue, and whether he [Coe] will be able to sort it or not I don't know for sure. I hope he can change it but those changes are going to take a hell of a long time. The blood passport developments are positive, if positive means more people getting caught, so I would like to think championships are getting cleaner."

Whether Coe is in a position to ban Russian athletes en masse from competing in the Rio Olympics is already crystallising into a political hot potato. "It is difficult to say the whole country shouldn't be allowed, it must be soul destroying if you were a clean athlete in those circumstances," says McColgan. "But something major needs to be done. If you need to ban Russia to really make a statement and make a change then that is what needs to be done. It is their own fault for having such a corrupt organisation."

Guy Learmonth, Scotland's 800m runner, emphasised the problem. "FIFA, UEFA, now IAAF. Gotta applaud the work! Bye bye Russia!!" he said on a social media site.

UK Anti-Doping welcomed the report but said actions ultimately would speak louder than words. “The Independent Commission’s findings highlight that the international playing field has not been level for our clean British athletes competing on the global stage," said Nicole Sapstead, UKAD chief executive. "Today’s findings will go some way to levelling that playing field for our athletes, and the whistle-blowers and media should be applauded for bringing these issues to WADA’s attention."

McColgan, meanwhile - funding or not - went off into the night pledging to work harder than ever to complete her return from injury and ensure she is on the start line in Rio. For now it is unclear whether she will focus on the 3,000m steeplechase or the 5,000m and 10,000m. "It wasn't a huge shock, but it is just a bit unfortunate really, a year out from the Olympic games you want all the support you can get really, the backing that people know you can perform," she said. "To not have that makes things a little bit more difficult but it is not going to stop me running. It is what I love to do and I am still going to do everything I can to make sure I am on the start line, and in that team."