WADA says Russian hackers published athletes' medical data

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WADA says Russian hackers published athletes' medical data 
GRAHAM DUNBAR, AP Sports Writer

 

GENEVA (AP) — Confidential medical data of gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and other female U.S. Olympians was hacked from a World Anti-Doping Agency database and posted online Tuesday.

 

WADA said the hackers were a "Russian cyber espionage group" called Fancy Bears.

 

They revealed records of "Therapeutic Use Exemptions" (TUEs), which allow athletes to use otherwise-banned substances because of a verified medical need.

 

Williams, who won a silver medal in mixed doubles at the Rio Olympics last month, issued a statement via her agent in which she said she was granted TUEs "when serious medical conditions have occurred," and those exemptions were "reviewed by an anonymous, independent group of doctors, and approved for legitimate medical reasons."

 

Williams revealed in 2011 she had been diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, an energy-sapping disease.

 

"I was disappointed to learn today that my private, medical data has been compromised by hackers and published without my permission," Williams said. "I have followed the rules established under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program in applying for, and being granted, 'therapeutic use exemption.'"

 

Another athlete named was women's basketball gold medalist Elena Delle Donne, who had thumb surgery on Tuesday and posted a post-op pic on Twitter, along with a statement saying she takes prescribed medication approved by WADA.

 

In a statement, USA Gymnastics said Biles — who won five medals, four gold, in Rio last month — was approved for an exemption and had not broken any rules.

 

She wrote on Twitter that she's taken medication to treat ADHD since she was a child.

 

"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," Biles posted.

 

WADA previously warned of cyberattacks after investigators it had appointed published reports into Russian state-sponsored doping.

 

"These criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti-doping community to re-establish trust in Russia," World Anti-Doping Agency director general Olivier Niggli said in a statement.

 

WADA said it "extended its investigation with the relevant law enforcement authorities."

 

Last month, hackers obtained a database password for Russian runner Yuliya Stepanova, a whistleblower and key witness for the WADA investigations. She and her husband, a former official with the Russian national anti-doping agency, are now living at an undisclosed location in North America.

 

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected WADA's statement blaming Russian hackers as unfounded.

 

"There can be no talk about any official or government involvement, any involvement of Russian agencies in those actions. It's absolutely out of the question," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies. "Such unfounded accusations don't befit any organization, if they aren't backed by substance."

 

The International Olympic Committee said it "strongly condemns such methods which clearly aim at tarnishing the reputation of clean athletes."

 

"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 top American anti-doping official said it was "unthinkable" to try to smear athletes who followed the rules and did nothing wrong.

 

"The cyberbullying of innocent athletes being engaged in by these hackers is cowardly and despicable," said Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

 

The name "Fancy Bears" appears to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to a collection of hackers that many security researchers have long associated with Russia.

 

In a statement posted to its website early Tuesday, the group proclaimed its allegiance to Anonymous, the loose-knit movement of online mischief-makers, and said it hacked WADA to show the world "how Olympic medals are won."

 

"We will start with the U.S. team which has disgraced its name by tainted victories," the group said, adding that more revelations about other teams were forthcoming.

 

Internet records suggest Fancy Bears' data dump has been in the works for at least two weeks; their website was registered on Sept. 1 and their Twitter account was created on Sept. 6.

 

Messages left with the group were not immediately returned. A French name and phone number associated with the site both appeared to be bogus. A mailing address listed by the hackers appeared to point to a florist east of Paris; messages left with the business were not immediately returned.

___

Associated Press writer Raphael Satter in London and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-09-14

[Usernames]

I figured that there was some way that the Williams sisters were cheating.  Not only Venus but Serena.  Especially, Serena.  She looks like she's been doped up on steroids since she was six months old. The Barry Bonds of tennis.

[muskoka]

never mind Serena, look at this teenager - " Simone Biles, all-around ‘Artistic Gymnastics’ Rio Olympics gold medalist."

 

 

https://futuristrendcast.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/breaking-wada-hacked-williams-sisters-simone-biles-doping-leaked/

 

http://www.fancybear.net/

 

 

 

 

[Usernames]

59 minutes ago, muskoka said:

never mind Serena, look at this teenager - " Simone Biles, all-around ‘Artistic Gymnastics’ Rio Olympics gold medalist."

 

 

https://futuristrendcast.wordpress.com/2016/09/13/breaking-wada-hacked-williams-sisters-simone-biles-doping-leaked/

 

http://www.fancybear.net/

 

 

 

 

 

I agree. She looks doped up.

[Kasset Tak]

Doping is rampant in many sports. As Russia was banned from the Olympics US should have been banned from cycling around the world after the entire cycle team with Lance Armstrong in the top dominated the sport thanks to doping. 

US should also be banned from other competitions as doping is rampant in NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB!

 

There are many things I fell is strange about how doping is handled:

 

I have read interviews with athletes from many different nations saying that say that they would not be able to win without drugs but as they had TUEs it's OK?! That's not competing with the same rules as the medicines most times don't place the user in a "normal" state but instead give advantages, like Norwegian skiers using asthma medicine which give a great advantage with the breathing/oxygenation when you are exercising in cold weather... With TUEs of course...

 

Another example is Michel Phelps that condemned other athletics for doping in the last Olympics while he himself uses cupping. Cupping has the same effect on the body as some of the forbidden drugs that he condemn other athletics for using, the difference is that cupping is not a drug and can therefore not be considered doping...

[stevenl]

15 minutes ago, Kasset Tak said:

Doping is rampant in many sports. As Russia was banned from the Olympics US should have been banned from cycling around the world after the entire cycle team with Lance Armstrong in the top dominated the sport thanks to doping. 

US should also be banned from other competitions as doping is rampant in NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB!

 

There are many things I fell is strange about how doping is handled:

 

I have read interviews with athletes from many different nations saying that say that they would not be able to win without drugs but as they had TUEs it's OK?! That's not competing with the same rules as the medicines most times don't place the user in a "normal" state but instead give advantages, like Norwegian skiers using asthma medicine which give a great advantage with the breathing/oxygenation when you are exercising in cold weather... With TUEs of course...

 

Another example is Michel Phelps that condemned other athletics for doping in the last Olympics while he himself uses cupping. Cupping has the same effect on the body as some of the forbidden drugs that he condemn other athletics for using, the difference is that cupping is not a drug and can therefore not be considered doping...

In Russia it was state sponsored and state organised, that's why they were banned from some events. Big difference with your examples.

[arithai12]

On 9/14/2016 at 9:24 PM, stevenl said:

In Russia it was state sponsored and state organised, that's why they were banned from some events. Big difference with your examples.

If you believe that is the real reason they were banned, you are very naive.

As for Venus & the others with a licence to dope, there are no words left anymore.