Russia: Synchronised swimming team thank Putin after 5th Olympic gold

The Russian synchronised swimming team alongside acting President of the Russian Synchronised Swimming Federation Alexei Vlasenko held a joint press conference in Moscow, Monday, after receiving their fifth straight Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro.
Commenting on the considered blanket ban of the entire Russian team ahead of the Rio Games, five-times Olympic champion Natalia Ishchenko stated "It is really difficult when you have been training all these years and suddenly you could be told that you are not going [to the Rio Olympics]. But our coaches didn't give us a chance to relax. And we want to thank them for that."
Russia's team coach Tatiana Danchenko continued, "I had only one argument for the girls - Vladimir Vladimirovich will stand up for us. And he worked on that. The girls agreed, saying that our president is cool and he will definitely do something."
Despite a tense atmosphere around the Russian team in Rio, "there were no provocations [during the 2016 Rio Olympics] in synchronised swimming," head coach Tatiana Pokrovskaya told journalists during the press conference. "Everyone treated us with respect and as leaders. When we won, everybody including the Technical Committee and our management approached us saying 'yes, of course you are from another planet, not from ours," she added.