Russia has lost its appeal against the decision to ban its athletics team from the Rio Olympics next month.

The Russian Olympic Committee and 68 individual athletes lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport – sport’s highest court – when athletics’ world governing body the IAAF upheld a global competition ban against the Russian athletics federation that has been in place since November.

That sanction was imposed after a damning World Anti-Doping Agency report into widespread doping in Russian track and field. A second WADA-backed investigation has now revealed that a similar doping programme extended to almost all Olympic and Paralympic sports in Russia.

Earlier this week, WADA and others asked the International Olympic Committee and International Paralympic Committee to ban Russia entirely from the Rio Games but both bodies said they needed more time to consider their options.