RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Wednesday (Aug 3) that a "record" 18 appeals have been launched, mainly involving Russian doping bans, ahead of the Rio Games.

At least 11 appeals involved Russian athletes excluded from the Games after the report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren which said the Russian government organised doping at major events.

CAS said in a statement that the cases opened since a special tribunal was set up in Rio were "a new record of cases for one edition of the Olympic Games" before the Rio edition even starts on Friday.