Putin: Olympic ban on Russian athletes is result of political plot (Reuters)

By Andrew Osborn and Denis Dyomkin MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said a shadowy political plot had succeeded in unfairly stripping some Russian sportspeople of the right to compete at the Rio Olympics over doping allegations and promised to defend Russia’s tarnished sporting reputation. Addressing members of Russia’s Olympic team in the Kremlin on Wednesday, Putin said a decision by global sporting organizations to ban Russian track-and-field athletes and sportspeople in everything from swimming to rowing flew in the face of common sense and legality. “It is an attempt to apply the rules which unfortunately dominate in geopolitics to the sporting world,” he said, hitting out at what he called “short-sighted political schemers.” With Russia months away from parliamentary elections and stuck in an economic crisis, the scandal, which centers on allegations the Russian government and the FSB security service covered up doping for years, has rocked the Russian sports world and tarnished Putin’s showcase 2014 winter Olympics.