About 270 Russian athletes preliminary cleared for taking part in Olympics

International federations have approved the participation of about 270 Russian athletes in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but the procedure is not over yet, Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov said on Thursday, SputnikNews reports.

"The approval process has not been completed yet on any athlete, because international federations are working on the lists. What they have approved so far is about 270 athletes," Zhukov told journalists.

According to the Russian Olympic committee head, less than 100 people are still awaiting a decision.

The Russian weightlifting team at Rio Olympics will be very small and will likely include only three people, Zhukov said.

He also stressed that the Russian Olympic Committee will do everything possible to ensure that Russian athletes’ participation in the summer Games is "comfortable."

Zhukov assured that the Russian team at the Rio Olympics will be absolutely free of doping, saying that the team "is currently the cleanest in the world."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) made a decision on Sunday not to ban the entire Russian Olympic team from participating in the Rio Olympics, choosing to leave it to individual sports federations to decide on athletes' participation.

Earlier in July, the Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) prohibited all Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions, including the upcoming Rio Olympics, except long jump athlete Darya Klishina, who trains in the United States.

In 2015, WADA's Independent Commission issued a report accusing Russia of numerous breaches of global anti-doping regulations, which led to Russia's suspension from the IAAF.

Earlier this month, an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission led by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren presented a report in which Russia was accused of having run a state-sponsored doping program.

Zhukov said on Thursday that Russian athletes included in the McLaren list still have a chance of taking part in the Rio Olympics.