The Russians are in trouble because they have been doping athletes who participate in the Olympics. What is behind the documentation of their actions is something called an Independent Person Report by Dr. Richard H. McLaren, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). McLaren's report is long, interesting, and worth reading if you want to know what is really being said about the Russian doping process for its Olympic athletes [ see https://wada-main-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/resources/files/20160718_ip_report_final3.pdf. The most damning statement is this:
"The Ministry of Sport directed, controlled, and oversaw the manipulation of athletes analytical results or sample swapping, with the active participation and assistance of the FSB, CSP, and both Moscow and Soshi Laboratories. "
The FSB involvement is the Russian Federal Security Service, where Valdimir Putin came from, and the CSP is the Center for Sports Preparation of National Teams of Russia. It would be almost impossible for Putin not to know that this was going on, given the organization and number of people involved who were part of the government.
The state-controlled media makes it sound like Russia is being persecuted because it did so well in the Olympics. It was almost funny, were it not so rediculous. This effort was organized and well planned. They got caught. They deny anything happened and will try to say it was all a conspiracy by anti-Russian countries to discredit them. This approach works most places in the world, but for some reason, not so well in the Olympics. Maybe it is because Olympic athletes work so hard to get to that competition and every one of them has to make a supreme effort just to get out and practice every day. They don't like cheaters taking medals.
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