An outbreak of appeals against bans already imposed on competitors from the rogue nation also threatened to derail the kick-off of Rio 2016, the build-up to which has been marred by the fallout from arguably the worst drugs scandal in history. 

The IOC's president insisted on Sunday it was not to blame for the unprecedented shambles, declaring it the fault of the World Anti-Doping Agency. 

Thomas Bach snapped at suggestions the IOC's response to the crisis had been a huge failure, claiming it was "very obvious" where responsibility lay as a result of the "timing" of the Wada-commissioned report which found Russia guilty of state-sponsored doping and a corresponding cover-up on a staggering scale.