The World Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday night condemned the hacking of a confidential database by a Russian cyber-espionage group which leaked the personal files of several top American athletes, including the tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams and the gymnast Simone Biles, and promised that it would soon publish “sensational proof” of famous athletes taking doping substances.
Documents published on the Fancy Bear website appeared to show that Serena Williams had taken the restricted drugs prednisone, prednisolone, methylprednisone, hydromorphone and oxycodone between 2010 and 2015, while her sister Venus had taken prednisone, prednisolone, triamcinolone and formoterol. Biles, meanwhile, was given methylphenidate for attention-deficit disorder. In all cases, however,
Wada confirmed that the athletes had committed no offence because they had been granted therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) by the relevant international sports federations and national anti-doping organisations.
The International Olympic Committee said it “strongly condemned” the cyber attack which it said was “clearly aimed at tarnishing the reputation of clean athletes” and confirmed the athletes mentioned had not violated any anti-doping rules during the Rio Olympics.
Venus Williams said she was “disappointed” that her medical data has been “compromised by hackers and published without … permission”. She said in a statement: “I have followed the rules established under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program in applying for, and being granted, ‘therapeutic use exemptions’. The applications for TUEs under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program require a strict process of approval which I have adhered to when serious medical conditions have occurred.” The 36-year-old added she was “one of the strongest supporters of maintaining the highest level of integrity in competitive sport”.
Speaking about Biles, Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, said: “Simone has filed the proper paperwork per Usada and Wada requirements and there is no violation. The International Gymnastics Federation, the United States Olympic Committee and Usada have confirmed this.”
Biles added in a short statement on her Twitter page: “I have ADHD and I have taken medicine for it since I was a kid. Please know, I believe in clean sport, have always followed the rules, and will continue to do so as fair play is critical to sport and is very important to me.”
Wada admitted that the hackers had gained access to its Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (Adams) database via a phishing attack using an International Olympic Committee created account for the Rio 2016 Games. Its director general, Olivier Niggli, insisted he “deeply regretted” the violation and was “very conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential information has been divulged through this criminal act”.
He said: “Wada condemns these ongoing cyber attacks that are being carried out in an attempt to undermine Wada and the global anti-doping system. Wada has been informed by law enforcement authorities that these attacks are originating out of Russia. Let it be known that these criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russia further to the outcomes of the Agency’s independent McLaren Investigation Report.”
The attack raises worrying questions for athletes’ privacy as well as Wada’s security systems. Last month Yuliya Stepanova – the key whistleblower for Wada’s Independent Pound Commission that exposed widespread doping in Russian athletics – had her password for Adams illegally obtained. However, Wada insisted it was taking the attack seriously and was working with law-enforcement agencies to protect itself and its athletes from being hacked.
Several figures in the anti-doping community told the Guardian they believed the hack was not only a retaliation against Wada, which published a scathing report on the Russian government’s vast cover‑up of doping during the Sochi Winter Games in 2014, but also an attempt by the Russian authorities to persuade their own people that the problems in their country were just as bad elsewhere. Some of the strongest criticism came from Travis Tygaart, the head of Usada, who called the cyber attacks “cowardly and despicable” and reiterated that the athletes named had done nothing wrong. “It’s unthinkable that in the Olympic movement, hackers would illegally obtain confidential medical information in an attempt to smear athletes to make it look as if they have done something wrong,” he said. “The athletes haven’t. In fact, in each of the situations, the athlete has done everything right in adhering to the global rules for obtaining permission to use a needed medication. The cyber-bullying of innocent athletes being engaged in by these hackers is cowardly and despicable. It is time for the entire international community to stand up and condemn this cyber attack on clean sport and athletes’ rights.”
But Fancy Bear, which has links to its country’s security agency GRU and has previously been accused of defacing Wada’s website, accessing the private whereabouts details of Stepanova, and hacking into the Democratic National Committee, promised it would release more information in the coming weeks.
“We are going to tell you how Olympic medals are won,” he said. “We hacked World Anti-Doping Agency databases and were shocked with what we saw. We will start with the US team which disgraced itself by tainted victories. We will also disclose exclusive information about other national Olympic teams later. Wait for sensational proof of famous athletes taking doping substance any time soon.”
Meanwhile, the British javelin thrower Goldie Sayers and the GB men’s 4x400m relay team found out on Tuesday night that their fourth places at the 2008 Beijing Olympics would be upgraded to bronze after official confirmation that their Russian rivals have retrospectively failed drug tests.
The IOC confirmed that the javelin silver medallist Mariya Abakumova and the 400m runner Denis Alexeev, a member of the bronze medal-winning relay team, had tested positive for the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone at the Games following the retesting of their samples earlier this year and as a result been disqualified and ordered to return their medals.
The entire Russian relay team have been disqualified as a result of Alexeev’s doping, meaning the British squad of Andrew Steele, Robert Tobin, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney will move up from fourth place. The IOC also announced that Inga Abitova, who finished sixth in the 10,000m in Beijing, had also failed a retrospective drug test, as has the cyclist Ekaterina Gnidenko, who finished eighth in the keirin at London 2012.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/13/wada-russian-cyber-attack-espionage-group
Here's confirmation from WADA and the IOC that no violations were committed.
