In a fresh release on Thursday, the group published confidential data of 25 athletes, from eight countries, including British cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Froome, whose three Tour de France triumphs followed that of Wiggins.
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A British Cycling spokesman said: “We’re proud of our strong anti-doping culture at British Cycling”.
German discus thrower Robert Harting, the 2012 Olympic champion, wrote on Twitter that We dont hide anything. go transparency!.
Froome had two TUE’s for corticosteroid prednisolone before the 2013 Critérium du Dauphiné and the 2014 Tour de Romandie, the latter raising some eyebrows.
The medical data of 29 athletes from eight countries, nearly half of them from the United States, has now been stolen from WADA by a Russian-based cyber espionage group called Tsar Team (APT28), or “Fancy Bears”, and published online.
Mireia Garcia Belmonte, who won a gold and bronze medal in swimming for Spain, is also on the list. And given the lack of trust in sport now, is it time to make all TUEs public, even if it means athletes’ private medical details are revealed? “Stay tuned for new leaks”.
Tuesday’s release of documents included chemical screenings of U.S. Olympians Simone Biles, Serena and Venus Williams, and Elena Delle Donne, the basketball player.
Access to ADAMS allowed the hackers to obtain athletes’ Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) covering certain prohibited drugs that athletes are allowed to take if an illness or condition requires the medicine. There is no suggestion any of the athletes broke any rules.
Wiggins was approved to take the medication for asthma.
Wiggins was given exemption to take a medication for an allergy to grass pollen, while Froome is known to have previously required medication for exacerbated asthma.
The World Anti-Doping Agency says a Russian hacking group was responsible for stealing and publishing US Olympic athletes’ confidential medical records.
The Danish national anti-doping agency calls the attacks “unforgivable” and stresses that the Danish swimmer, Pernille Blume, who was named in the most recent leak, has played by the rules.
The global anti-doping executives and the United States and UK bodies rushed to stress that the use of TUE is not an offence, since the athletes “legitimately” applied for the medication under the existing rules.
The agency is also in contact with the relevant NADOs and IFs whose athletes are impacted by this latest data release so that they can provide them with the necessary support.
WADA director general Olivier Niggli said the hacking of the agency would hamper Russian efforts to reintegrate into the sports world.
He added that continued cyber-attacks “seriously undermine the work that is being carried out to rebuild a compliant anti-doping program in Russia”.
Russian officials have dismissed the claims as ridiculous.
“We don’t approve of what hackers do, but what they’ve done is definitely of interest to the worldwide community, especially the sports community”, the Russian president said, as cited by RIA Novosti. “You blame Russian Federation for everything”, Mutko said. It is very in now..
The attack comes only a month after Yuliya Stepanova’s WADA database password was stolen and her account illegally accessed.
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The International Olympic Committee said after Tuesdays WADA statement that it strongly condemns such methods which clearly aim at tarnishing the reputation of clean athletes..
