“Let it be known that these criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russian Federation further to the outcomes of the Agency’s independent McLaren Investigation Report”.
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He added that the organization is reaching out to organizations about affected athletes.
“After detailed studying of the hacked Wada databases we figured out that dozens of American athletes had tested positive”, the Fancy Bears’ group claimed on its website. Ms. Stepanova was the key whistleblower for WADA’s Independent Pound Commission that exposed widespread doping in Russian athletics.
The database of the World Anti-Doping Agency was accessed through an account created by the International Olympic Committee for the Rio games, WADA said.
WADA previously warned of cyberattacks after investigators it appointed published reports into Russian state-sponsored doping.
Niggli revealed that WADA is now contacting those athletes involved, and hit out at the actions of the hackers, whom he claimed were trying to undermine the organisation’s efforts to stamp out the use of banned substances.
“The IOC can confirm however that the athletes mentioned did not violate any anti-doping rules during the Olympic Games Rio 2016”, the Olympic body said.
The fancybear.net website said the group had hacked the WADA databases and would start by releasing exclusive information on the USA team followed later by other national Olympic teams.
Niggli said: “WADA has been informed by law enforcement authorities that these attacks are originating out of Russian Federation. This is other evidence that WADA and IOC’s Medical and Scientific Department are corrupt and deceitful”.
In a statement to Russian news agency TASS, the International Olympic Committee condemned the hack and said the athletes mentioned did not violate anti-doping rules.
A therapeutic use exemption is granted to athletes suffering from a condition or injury which requires treatment using medicine included on Wada’s banned list.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) decried the hack as “cowardly and despicable”, emphasising that none of the named athletes had committed an offence.
The group said artistic gymnast Biles was one of the “American doping athletes”, linking 13 files it said supports its claims.
“The respective global federations through the proper process granted the permission and it was recognised by the the IOC and USADA”.
He added that the hack is “greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russian Federation”.
The hackers saw confidential medical data and have released some of the information, WADA says.
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The IOC declined to ban Russia following the release of the McLaren Report in July, instead delegating the decision to the worldwide federations that govern each sport.
