The World Anti-Doping Agency has confirmed that data relating to Yuliya Stepanova, the Russian athlete who helped blow the whistle on the state sponsored doping scandal that led to its track and field team being banned, has been hacked.
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The anti-doping body said a “perpetrator” had illegally obtained the password for the middle-distance runner’s account, and accessed details which would normally include her registered whereabouts.
Stepanova and her husband Vitaly, a former Russian anti-doping official, are now living in a secret location following her evidence to Wada’s report into Russian doping. While it said only Stepanova’s account had been victim of a hack, it was still investigating whether any athletes had been duped by the email scam.
Stepanova, praised by the global athletics body (IAAF) for her courage in stepping forward and revealing details on widespread doping in Russian Federation, is still an active athlete and had attempted to compete in Rio.
Stepanova, whose husband also provided evidence, has been barred from competing in Rio because she served a past doping ban.
“A subsequent investigation allowed the agency to determine that no other athlete accounts on ADAMS have been accessed”.
The Anti-Doping Administration and Management System, or ADAMS, is the online tool that allows drug-testers to know where athletes are so they can be randomly tested out of competition. “Stakeholders can rest assured that the agency takes IT security and data privacy very seriously”, it said, adding that law enforcement authorities had been contacted.
Wada said in a statement on Saturday (13 August): “Through Wada’s regular security monitoring of Adams, the Agency noted that someone, other than Ms Stepanova, had accessed her account”. But when the International Olympic Committee blocked her involvement she said she would not appeal the decision, which was heavily criticised by anti-doping organisations.
She now lives at an undisclosed location in the United States. “There we would feel unsafe”.
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The IOC considered a ban of all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics based on the state-sponsored doping allegations, but decided against it, leaving the final decisions with the global sports federations.
