Russian Olympic participants cleared to compete at Rio de Janeiro

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) – Olympic officials have failed to back up the findings of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Officials from the International Olympic Committee failed to impose a complete ban on Russia from the Rio de Janeiro Games, assigning individual global sports federations the responsibility to decide which athletes should be cleared to compete.

The decision, announced after a three-hour meeting via teleconference of the IOC’s executive board, came just 12 days before the Aug. 5 opening of the games.

The IOC rejected calls from the World Anti-Doping Agency and dozens of other anti-doping bodies to exclude the entire Russian Olympic team following allegations of state-sponsored cheating.

The head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, says “the IOC has refused to take decisive leadership.”