Hacktivist group “Fancy Bear” has released a second batch of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)’s medical data on 25 athletes from the United States, Germany, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Romania and Russian Federation.
Advertisement
The veteran tennis superstar was one of four United States athletes targeted by Russian hacking group Fancy Bears in a cyber-attack that has been widely criticized.
A website appeared yesterday containing confidential medical information from ADAMS about a number of U.S. athletes, including tennis players Serena and Venus Williams and gymnast Simone Biles. The anti-doping agency said the hackers were operating from Russian Federation.
According to WADA, the account includes confidential medical data such as Therapeutic Use Exemptions, which are issued by sports federations and national anti-doping organizations to allow athletes to take certain substances. “I have followed the rules established under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program in applying for, and being granted, ‘therapeutic use exemption'”.
Venus Williams said she was “disappointed” that her medical data has been “compromised by hackers and published without.permission”.
He continued: “We are reaching out to stakeholders, such as the IOC, IFs (international federations) and NADOs (national anti-doping organisations), regarding the specific athletes impacted. We stand for fair play and clean sport”.
“The respective global federations through the proper process granted the permission and it was recognised by the the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and USADA”.
“But we are also concerned because they have the same data for Russian athletes and we can also be a victim”.
However, none of the documents published by the group provided evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the athletes involved.
As reported by USA Today, the International Olympic Committee condemned the attack, adding that these four athletes didn’t violate anti-doping rules.
WADA has confirmed the latest data was “illegally gained” by hackers when they breached the agency’s Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS).
WADA was quick to pin the blame on Russia, citing “retaliation” for the agency’s “independent” investigation which resulted in blanket bans of Russian Olympians and Paralympians as an apparent reason for the attack.
Mikhail “Misha” Aloyan won silver in men’s boxing fly in the 52kg category at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro.
WADA director general Olivier Niggli said in a statement: “WADA deeply regrets this situation and is very conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential information has been divulged through this criminal act”.
Advertisement
“We will start with the USA team which has disgraced its name by tainted victories”, the group said, adding that more revelations about other teams were forthcoming.
