In a fresh release on Wednesday, the group published confidential data of 25 athletes, from eight countries, including British cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome, whose three Tour de France triumphs followed that of Wiggins.
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The hack, which revealed therapeutic exemption use (TUE) details of stars such as American four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles as well as tennis sisters Venus and Serena Williams, has led to criticism of WADA’s security systems.
Russian cyber spies recently hacked the World Anti-Doping Agency and stole the medical data of worldwide Rio 2016 Olympic athletes.
WADA has said it believes the hacking is retaliation for investigations into a Russian state-backed doping program including at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Winter Paralympics.
“It seems as if healthy athletes are taking drugs legally that are prohibited for others”, Putin said at a regional leaders summit in Kyrgyzstan, according to Russian news agencies.
Meanwhile Dr Jeroen Swart, the world renowned South African physiologist who conducted a range of tests on Chris Froome past year, told the Guardian that, while the renewed attention on the use – and potential misuse – of TUEs was welcome, there were other performance enhancement issues in sport that needed addressing.
And while Reedie remains adamant there has been no involvement from the Russian government, he says the hack could have serious consequences for the country’s bid to re-enter the world of athletics.
While this is beyond any doubt that these athletes are legitimately using these substances, the matter that needs a closer inspection is whether they were awarded that exemption as personal favors or for reasons that the WADA officially regards as a violation of its policies.
“In nine years as a professional I’ve twice required a TUE for exacerbated asthma, the last time was in 2014”, said Froome, who won his third Tour de France title in July.
The Russian cyber-espionage group calls itself the Tsar Team, otherwise known as APT28 or Fancy Bear.
“We do not support what the hackers do, but what they did can not but be of interest to the worldwide community, and most of all to the sports community”, he added.
“Continued cyber attacks emanating from Russian Federation seriously undermine the work that is being carried out to rebuild a compliant anti-doping program in Russian Federation”.
WADA said the information had been obtained by gaining access to the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (Adams) database via a phishing attack using an International Olympic Committee created account for the Rio 2016 Games.
Richard Ings, the former Australian Anti-Doping Agency chief agrees with Dmitri on their nationality.
WADA needs to “develop clear criteria for its work that everyone understands, based on worldwide law, and not on some very odd statements”, she said.
As part of a hack on WADA, Bradley Wiggins appears to have had personal records released, but a spokesperson is unconcerned.
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A spokesman for British Cycling echoed these sentiments, saying it was “proud of (its) strong anti-doping culture” and “condemned the publication of any individual’s medical information without their permission”.
