EUROPEAN 400 metres hurdles champion Eilidh Doyle still expects Russian athletes to compete in the Rio Olympics.

The Pitreavie runner said the IAAF’s decision not to lift the ban on their track and field team was a first step towards restoring the sport’s image.

But there’s still a possibility that the threat of legal action from ‘clean’ Russian athletes could lead to individuals taking part this summer.

Doyle said: “I think there will still be some Russians on the start line in Rio.

“The human rights thing is a big issue and so I think that will play a part.

“Individual athletes might not have failed a drug test but that doesn’t mean anything – we’ve seen that in the past.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve never failed a test, you could well still be cheating.

“And if there are individual Russian athletes in Rio, especially if they’re running well, the public will look at that and think that nothing has changed.”

Russia was banned from international competition in November after it was found to be engaging in state-sponsored doping.

Last week, after the ban was upheld, Doyle said: “It’s not solving the whole problem but it’s progress.

“We need to keep on making these baby steps and hopefully we’ll get to the bigger picture eventually where things will be sorted.

“There is no reason Russia should have been allowed back because they’ve not shown any real change.

“They seem to have done very little to comply with the criteria.”

Russia’s Ministry of Sport said they were “extremely disappointed by the IAAF’s decision” and that “clean athletes’ dreams were being destroyed by the reprehensible behaviour of other athletes and officials”.