Rio Olympics 2016: Russia's fate will be decided by a three-member panel

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) ruling executive board met for the last time ahead of the start of the Rio Games and have decided that a three-member panel will take a call on Russian athletes' fate.

This panel will will announce the final ruling on the Russian athletes, whose names have been forwarded to compete by their international sports federations and approved by an independent arbitrator.

A report had earlier exposed that the atheletes were involved in a State-sponsored doping scandal. As a result, more than 100 atheletes were suspended. A total of 67 track and field athletes have been barred by IAAF from Rio Olympics. However, 250 Russian athletes have been cleared to take part in Rio Olympics 2016. 

"This panel will decide whether to accept or reject that final proposal. We want to make it absolutely clear that we are the ones making the final call. We're working on a very, very tight timeline. It has to be finished by Friday at the very latest," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams told AP.

Meanwhile, IOC have confirmed that this three-member panel will announce the ruling just ahead of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio. 

Turkey's Ugur Erdener, chairman of the IOC medical commission; Germany's Claudia Bokel, head of the athletes' commission; and Spain's Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr., a vice president of the modern pentathlon federation are the three members who will be taking a call on Russian athletes' fate for Rio Olympics 2016, which is scheduled to start from August 5, Friday. 

"This review board panel will look at every single decision, every single athlete, to make sure the IOC is happy with the decision that's been taken. It's very important that the IOC makes the final decision based on independent advice," Adams added.