The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sunday said Russia would not receive a blanket ban from Rio 2016, following the country’s doping scandal.
The IOC said it would leave it up to individual sports’ governing bodies to decide if Russian competitors were clean and should be allowed to take part.
The decision follows a report in which Canadian law professor, Richard McLaren, said Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme from 2011 to 2015.
The Rio Games will start on August 5 and will end on August 21.
However, IOC said competitors from Russia who want to take part in the Games will have to meet strict criteria.
Any Russian who has served a doping ban will not be eligible for next month’s Olympics.
Russian track and field athletes have already been banned.
“We have set the bar to the limit by establishing a number of very strict criteria which every Russian athlete will have to fulfil if he or she wants to participate in Rio.
“I think in this way, we have balanced on the one hand, the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete,’’ IOC president Thomas Bach said.
The decision not to impose a blanket ban came after a three-hour meeting of the IOC executive board, and reaction have come quickly.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko described the decision as “objective’’ but “very tough’’, while the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) claimed the IOC had “refused to take decisive leadership’’.
UK Sports Minister Tracey Crouch said: “The scale of the evidence in the McLaren report arguably pointed to the need for stronger sanctions rather than leaving it to the international federations at this late stage.’’
The 28 individual federations now have just 12 days to “carry out an individual analysis of each competitor’s anti-doping record’’.
They are to take into account only reliable adequate international tests, and the specificities of each sport and its rules, in order to ensure a level playing field.
Russia’s full Olympic team would consist of 387 competitors.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has already ruled that Russian track and field athletes will not compete at the Games.
The decision was upheld on Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
“The IAAF team are ready to offer advice to any International Sports Federations given our experience and what we have learned over the last eight months,’’ IAAF president Sebastian Coe said.
A number of current and former athletes have also criticised the IOC decision, with former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies critical in her reaction.
“I’m just sad that they’ve passed the buck, as they so often do, down to the governing bodies, and I don’t think the governing bodies have the time to be able to do very much about this.
“I think the only way to send an incredibly strong message to a state-run doping programme is a blanket ban.’’
World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) president Craig Reedie had previously said his organisation, which commissioned the McLaren report, wanted the IOC to totally ban Russian athletes.
“IOC should decline entries for Rio 2016 of all athletes submitted by the Russian Olympic and Paralympic committees.’’
The IOC also confirmed it would not allow whistleblower Yulia Stepanova to compete as a neutral athlete in Rio.
Stepanova has previously failed a doping test and also did not satisfy the IOC’s “ethical requirements’’.
The IOC, in a statement, said: “The executive board will like to express its appreciation for Mrs Stepanova’s contribution to the fight against doping and to the integrity of sport.’’
USADA chief Travis Tygart described the decision as “incomprehensible’’, adding that it would “undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward.’’
