REJECTING calls by anti-doping officials for a complete ban on Russia, Olympic leaders Sunday gave individual sports federations the task of deciding which athletes should be cleared to compete in next month’s Rio de Janeiro Games.

    Citing the need to protect the rights of individual athletes, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided against taking the unprecedented step of excluding Russia’s entire team over allegations of state-sponsored doping. Instead, the IOC left it to 27 international sports federations to make the call on a case-by-case basis.

    “Every human being is entitled to individual justice,” IOC President Thomas Bach said after the ruling of his 15-member executive board.

    Bach said the IOC had decided instead on a set of “very tough criteria” that could dent Russia’s overall contingent and medal hopes in Rio, where the Olympics will open Aug. 5.

    Under the measures, no Russian athletes who have ever had a doping violation will be allowed into the Games, whether or not they have served a sanction, a rule that has not applied to athletes in other countries.

    In addition, the international sports federations were ordered to check each Russian athlete’s drug-testing record, with only doping controls conducted outside Russia counting toward eligibility, before authorizing them to compete. Final entry is contingent on approval from an independent sports arbitrator.

    U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart said the “IOC has refused to take decisive leadership” in a most important moment for the integrity of the Olympic Games and clean athletes.

    Russia’s track and field athletes were already banned by the IAAF, the sport’s governing body, in a decision that was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The IOC accepted that ruling, but would not extend it to other sports.

    Russia’s current overall team consists of 387 athletes, a number likely to be significantly reduced by the measure barring Russians who have previously served doping bans.

    Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said “the majority” of Russia’s team complies with the IOC criteria, and estimated “80 percent” of the team regularly undergoes international testing of the kind specified by the IOC.

    International federations will have only days to process the Russian cases.

    The International Tennis Federation has already said Russia’s eight-member team meets the IOC requirements as the players have been through regular international testing.

    (SD-Agencies)