INTERNATIONAL Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach defended yesterday the decision not to throw Russia out of the Rio Games for doping, saying it has been backed by world leaders.

Speaking to the Association of National Olympic Committees (Anoc) general assembly in Doha, Bach also said that Rio 2016 was a “huge success,” drawing a comparison between the headlines that dominated the build-up to the Games and the predictions ahead of last week’s US election.

But Bach also used a significant part of his 43-minute speech to justify his decision not to issue a blanket ban after law professor Richard McLaren’s report into state-sponsored doping called for Russia to be immediately suspended from international competition.

Bach and his executive board, however, left the decision on the eligibility of individual Russian athletes up to their respective international federations. The result was that Russia was able to send an almost full-strength team that finished fourth in the medal table.

The International Paralympic Committee, on the other hand, did ban the entire Russian team, while athletics, rowing and weightlifting also took strong stances at the Olympics.

But Bach said the IOC’s stance has been praised by “dozens of heads of states.”

He said: “They appreciated and acknowledged that we did not take a political decision, but that we took a decision in the interest of sport in respecting the rights of clean athletes.

“This appreciation from so many world leaders is confirmation of our decision and encouragement for all of us when we had to take such a difficult decision in such a short amount of time.”

Bach then went on to restate his case that the global anti-doping system has “deficiencies” and outlined his plan to create a new “international, top-down testing system” that is independent from sports federations and “national interests.”

Global anti-doping organisation Wada has its next meeting in Glasgow this weekend, with reform, Russia and the re-election of its president on the agenda.