Russia will have to wait to learn whether any of its athletes can participate in this summer's Olympic Games in Rio. The International Olympic Committee says it is exploring the legal options for banning Russia from the Games.

The decision is expected to come after the Court of Arbitration for Sport makes its decision on 68 Russian track and field athletes who are challenging the IAAF ban, as well as the World Anti-Doping Code and the Olympic Charter.

"It does look like they've kicked the can down the road to buy themselves some time to wait for CAS decision and so on," said Alan Moore, sports analyst.

"However, it does a little worrying for the athletes now they are still in limbo, from wrestlers to swimmers and so on. So it is quite difficult at this moment in time and anything can happen."

This wait comes after a damning report by an independent commission set up by the world anti-doping agency which said that Russia manipulated urine samples of Russian competitors across 30 different Summer and Winter Olympic sports.

Moscow has already suspended officials implicated in the WADA report. That includes Russia's Deputy Sports Minister, Yury Nagornykh. However, Russia's Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, was defiant, saying there is no concrete confirmation of violations in the report.   

The doping scandal may not stop with the Olympics. World football's governing body, FIFA, said it would be asking WADA for all information regarding doping in Russian football.

Canadian Richard McLaren's report states that at least one foreign footballer in the Russian Premier League had the benefit of a so-called 'save', where a positive sample was replaced with a negative in the Moscow anti-doping laboratory.

The report claims that decision was made by Russia's Sports Minister, Vitaly Mutko, who is a member of FIFA's executive committee. Russia is due to host football's World Cup in 2018.