Full coverage: 2016 Rio Olympics

Just 24 hours before the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics, the International Olympic Committee has approved the participation of 271 Russian athletes in the games.

That means 70 percent of the country's original team will get to compete despite being plagued by a state-sponsored doping scandal.

MOSCOW, July 28, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Russian athletes bid farewell to people at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow, Russia, July 28, 2016. About 70 Russian athletes left Moscow on Thursday for Rio de Janeiro to take part in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Those athletes are from Russian national teams of volleyball, handball, boxing, table tennis, synchronised swimming and equestrian. (Xinhua/Evgeny Sinitsyn)

In November last year, an independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed the widespread use of performance enhancing drugs and blood doping by Russian track and field athletes.

It said the athletes were encouraged and covered-up by coaches, doctors, as well as state and sports officials.

On Thursday, the IOC's rule to bar sanctioned Russian athletes from competing in the games was rejected as "un-enforceable" by an Olympic sports arbitration panel.