WADA and IOC Hit Out at Russian Hackers

(ATR) WADA has condemned Russian hackers who have leaked another batch of athlete data - this time 25 athletes from eight countries.

The agency said the Fancy Bear group, which released personal medical data about four U.S. athletes earlier this week, was behind the new cyber attack.

British cycling stars Bradley Wiggins, the UK’s most decorated Olympian, and Chris Froome, the three-time Tour de France winner, are among five from the UK in the group of athletes targeted by hackers. There are 10 from the U.S., five from Germany and one from each of the following countries: Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Romania and Russia.

"WADA is very mindful that this criminal attack, which to date has recklessly exposed personal data of 29 athletes, will be very distressing for the athletes that have been targeted; and cause apprehension for all athletes that were involved in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games," WADA director general Olivier Niggli said in a statement.

"To those athletes that have been impacted, we regret that criminals have attempted to smear your reputations in this way; and assure you that we are receiving intelligence and advice from the highest level law enforcement and IT security agencies that we are putting into action."

WADA maintains that the attacks are some form of revenge against the two separate investigations led by Richard Pound and Richard McLaren which revealed state-directed doping in Russia. The revelations led to the IAAF’s ban on the country’s athletics team from the Rio Olympics, the International Paralympic Committee’s blanket ban on Russia and several international federations blocking Russian athletes from competing at the 2016 Games.

"WADA has no doubt that these ongoing attacks are being carried out in retaliation against the agency, and the global anti-doping system," Niggli said, basing his comments on intelligence and advice from the law enforcement and IT security agencies.

"We condemn this criminal activity and have asked the Russian government to do everything in their power to make it stop," he said. Continued cyber-attacks emanating from Russia seriously undermine the work that is being carried out to rebuild a compliant anti-doping program in Russia."

WADA is braced for further leaks from the Fancy Bear hackers, who it claims illegally gained access to its anti-doping management system ADAMS via an IOC-created account for the Rio 2016 Games.

"We go on exposing the athletes who violate the principles of fair play by taking doping substances," the group said on its website, vowing to release more personal medical data."We'll keep on telling the world about doping in elite sports. Stay tuned for new leaks."

So far, there is nothing to suggest any of the athletes targeted have doped. Data covering the 29 athletes’ "therapeutic use exemptions" (TUEs) approved by international federations to treat medical conditions is now in the public domain. But no doping violations are exposed.

The IOC said it couldnot comment on documents "illegally obtained" from the ADAMS system. "The IOC strongly condemns such methods which clearly aim at tarnishing the reputation of clean athletes," a spokesperson said.

"The IOC is cooperating with WADA and has full confidence in their approach. At the same time the IOC is checking their systems to take any necessary preventive measures. All these actions are happening in close cooperation with WADA."

UCI: Doping System "Robust"

The international cycling federation issued a statement slamming the cyber attacks."The UCI has full confidence that WADA will do everything it can to prevent any further attacks and ensure ADAMS security," it said.

The UCI dismissed any suggestions it was too soft on the approval of therapeutic use exemptions.

The federation said the management of TUEs in cycling was "robust and fully safeguarded" by a special committee composed of independent experts in various fields, which only granted use of the medications if there was unanimity among a panel of 3 members.

"In addition, the UCI is one of the few international federations who have been recording the TUEs in ADAMS since the inception of ADAMS," the statement added, explaining that it was not mandatory at the time but the UCI made that choice for transparency reasons to allow WADA to review TUEs.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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