“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.” – Travis Tygart, USADA chief executive
Los Angeles : The World Anti-Doping Agency on Tuesday slammed Russian hackers who breached its database and published confidential records of US Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams.
WADA said in a statement that the Russian cyber-espionage group Tsar Team (APT28), also known as Fancy Bears, had broken into its Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) database.
The hacking group released information gleaned from the files of Biles, the Williams sisters and US women’s basketball player Elena Delle Donne.
In a posting on its website, Fancy Bears claimed US athletes at the Olympics had “played well but not fair.”
However none of the documents published by the group showed wrongdoing.
Instead, the disclosed files set out instances where the athletes had been granted exemptions to use various medications for legitimate reasons — a common practice in the sports world.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) characterized the hack as a “cowardly and despicable” attempt to smear the four women.
