Individual sport federations must rule on whether Russians can compete in Rio following the country’s doping scandal.

Two of the eight-strong weightlifting team had already been banned for doping violations, and another four were named in the McLaren report into doping.

Russia’s Sports Minister said 272 of the original 387 athletes selected had been cleared to complete in Rio.

A final figure is expected on Saturday, with the federations of boxing, golf, gymnastics and taekwondo still to confirm their decisions.

The Games get under way on 5 August.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) had recommended all Russian athletes be banned from the Games, but weightlifting and athletics are the only sports to have imposed a blanket ban on Russian competitors.

The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) took the step following a series of suspicious test results at the Beijing and London Games.

“We would like to highlight the extremely shocking and disappointing statistics regarding the Russian weightlifters,” said a statement by IWF.

“The integrity of the weightlifting sport has been seriously damaged on multiple times and levels by the Russians, therefore an appropriate sanction was applied in order to preserve the status of the sport.”

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will leave it up to individual sports’ governing bodies to decide if Russian competitors are clean and should be allowed to take part.

The decision follows a report in which Canadian law professor Richard McLaren said Russia operated a state-sponsored doping programme from 2011 to 2015.

The Rio Games start on 5 August.

Competitors from Russia who want to take part in the Games will have to meet strict criteria laid down by the IOC.

Any Russian who has served a doping ban will not be eligible for next month’s Olympics. Track and field athletes have already been banned.

IOC president Thomas Bach said: “We have set the bar to the limit by establishing a number of very strict criteria which every Russian athlete will have to fulfil if he or she wants to participate in the Olympic Games Rio 2016.

“I think in this way, we have balanced on the one hand, the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete.”

The decision not to impose a blanket ban came after a three-hour meeting of the IOC’s executive board, and reaction came quickly.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko described the decision as “objective” but “very tough”, while the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) claimed the IOC had “refused to take decisive leadership”.

UK Sports Minister Tracey Crouch said: “The scale of the evidence in the McLaren report arguably pointed to the need for stronger sanctions rather than leaving it to the international federations at this late stage.”

The 28 individual federations now have just 12 days to “carry out an individual analysis of each competitor’s anti-doping record, taking into account only reliable adequate international tests, and the specificities of each sport and its rules, in order to ensure a level playing field”.

The International Tennis Federation quickly confirmed on Sunday that Russia’s seven nominated tennis players meet the IOC requirements, having been subjected to “a rigorous anti-doping testing programme outside Russia”.

Russia’s full Olympic team would consist of 387 competitors.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has already ruled that Russian track and field athletes will not compete at the Games, a decision which was upheld on Thursday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

IAAF president Lord Coe said: “The IAAF team are ready to offer advice to any International Sports Federations given our experience and what we have learned over the last eight months.”

A number of current and former athletes have criticised the IOC decision, with former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies telling the BBC: “I’m just sad that they’ve passed the buck, as they so often do, down to the governing bodies, and I don’t think the governing bodies have the time to be able to do very much about this.

“I think the only way to send an incredibly strong message to a state-run doping programme is a blanket ban.”

World Anti Doping Agency (Wada) president Sir Craig Reedie said previously that his organisation, which commissioned the McLaren report, wanted the IOC to “decline entries for Rio 2016 of all athletes” submitted by the Russian Olympic and Paralympic committees.

The IOC also confirmed it will not allow whistleblower Yulia Stepanova to compete as a neutral athlete in Rio.

Stepanova has previously failed a doping test and also did not satisfy the IOC’s “ethical requirements”.

The IOC statement added: “The executive board would like to express its appreciation for Mrs Stepanova’s contribution to the fight against doping and to the integrity of sport.”

Bach said the IOC was “expressing its gratitude” to Stepanova by inviting her and her husband to Rio as guests.

Usada chief Travis Tygart described the decision to exclude Stepanova as “incomprehensible”, adding it will “undoubtedly deter whistleblowers in the future from coming forward”.

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The Russian, 28, tested positive for meldonium, a substance she has been taking since 2006 for health issues.

Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, is provisionally suspended from 12 March pending further action.

“I did fail the test and take full responsibility for it,” said Sharapova, who won the Wimbledon title as a 17-year-old in 2004.

“For the past 10 years I have been given a medicine called mildronate by my family doctor and a few days ago after I received the letter from the ITF [International Tennis Federation] I found out it also has another name of meldonium, which I did not know.”

Sharapova provided the anti-doping sample in question on 26 January, the day she lost to Serena Williams in the Australian Open quarter-finals.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) analysed the sample and returned a positive for meldonium, leading to the Russian being charged on 2 March.

“It is very important for you to understand that for 10 years this medicine was not on Wada’s banned list and I had been legally taking that medicine for the past 10 years,” said Sharapova.

“But on 1 January the rules had changed and meldonium became a prohibited substance, which I had not known.”

She added: “I received an email on 22 December from Wada about the changes happening to the banned list and you can see prohibited items – and I didn’t click on that link.”

Sharapova has been the highest-earning female athlete in the world for the past 11 years, according to the Forbes list.

She first reached world number one in August 2005 and is currently seventh in the rankings – but she has played just four tournaments since Wimbledon last July as she struggled with an arm injury.

Sharapova, who turns 29 in April, hopes to be able to return to tennis in the future.

“I made a huge mistake,” she said. “I have let my fans down, and let the sport down that I have been playing since the age of four that I love so deeply.

“I know that with this I face consequences and I don’t want to end my career this way. I really hope to be given another chance to play this game.”

There had been speculation Sharapova was going to announce her retirement and a large media contingent gathered for the Los Angeles news conference, which was streamed live online.

“I know many of you thought that I would be retiring today but if I was ever going to announce my retirement it would not be in a downtown Los Angeles hotel with this fairly ugly carpet,” she said.

Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) president Steve Simon said he is “very saddened” at Sharapova’s failed test.

“Maria is a leader and I have always known her to be a woman of great integrity,” he added.

“As Maria acknowledged, it is every player’s responsibility to know what they put in their body and to know if it is permissible.

“This matter is now in the hands of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme and its standard procedures. The WTA will support the decisions reached through this process.”

Eighteen-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova said: “Hope this gets cleared up as it seems to me to be an honest mistake.”

Brad Gilbert, who coached Andy Murray from July 2006 to November 2007, said: “Still stunned that nobody on ‘Shazza’ team checked new list from Wada. Players are responsible but this is big-time oversight on team as well.”

Former athlete Kelly Sotherton, who won bronze in the heptathlon at the 2004 Olympics, said it was “refreshing” that Sharapova took full responsibility for the failed test but “can only blame herself”.

She added: “I’m pretty sure if this was a track and field athlete they’d be getting a much rawer deal than Sharapova.”

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