TOKYO — Four guys from Russia, wearing Russian colors, climbed up a podium to receive gold medals and listen to a Russian song right after a few onlookers chanted, “Rus-SEE-a, Rus-SEE-a,” the forever Russian chant.
Russia, however, didn’t win the men’s gymnastics team event here Monday. Nope. Not at all. Russia? Never heard of it. Russia isn’t here.
Or something like that.
The International Olympic Committee officially banned the country from being here due to blatant doping scandals that date back to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The IOC generally has the moral compass of a KGB hit man, but even it couldn’t ignore this.