I'm going to try and get this story right: During the Sochi Olympics (winter, 2016?) The Russians pulled a new one in the area of doping. They hosted the winter games. So they had a building of some sort right next door to where they urinalysis drug test lab was. Right out of an Alistair MacLean Cold War spy novel, they cut a hole in the lab wall and would go in nightly and swap out the samples of their athletes with clean ones
Yes, I DO find that funny The audacity to pull such a damned grade school, spy novel stunt at the Olympic World Stage level AND ALMOST GET AWAY WITH IT just shows where the Russians are in their heads. But, they eventually did get busted. So, Russia, as a Nation is officially not allowed to compete in the Olympics for who knows how long.
Stop them? Nope. Russian athletes who test clean are STILL allowed to compete as IOC Team competitors No Russian flag nor anthem. So, they show up wearing PT gear that is the Russian tricolor, and play Tchaicovsky (sp) in lieu of the anthem. And they wonder why people just quit watching this crap.
In the meantime, Russia officially, with its usual smirk in place, is playing victim.
Yet we are supposed to take the Olympics and the IOC seriously.