United States Anti-Doping chief Travis Tygart said: “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. 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. “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.”

Niggli said WADA had “no doubt that these ongoing attacks are being carried out in retaliation against the agency, and the global anti-doping system,” because of independent investigations that exposed state-sponsored doping in Russia. Director general Olivier Niggli said: “Wada deeply regrets this situation and is very conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential information has been divulged through this criminal act.”

The attacks are understood to have originated in Russia in the wake of the McLaren Report, which uncovered a state-sponsored doping programme and led to some competitors being banned from this summer’s Olympic Games and the blanket exclusion of the country’s athletes at the Paralympics. GENEVA -- Russian hackers broke into a World Anti-Doping Agency database and posted confidential medical data online Tuesday of some United States female athletes who competed at the Rio Olympics -- including gymnast Simone Biles, tennis players Serena and Venus Williams and basketball player Elena Delle Donne. The records were held by the World Anti-Doping Agency and relate to “therapeutic use exemptions” granted to certain athletes so they can take medication — prescribed by a doctor and verified by an independent panel — that would normally be banned because of its performance-enhancing qualities. ‘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.’

While more leaks may follow — and reopen the debate about the number of athletes who use banned substances under the therapeutic use system, WADA saw it on Tuesday as a blatant attempt to undermine the fight against drug cheats. “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. 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.”

Venus Williams said she was “disappointed” that her medical data has been “compromised by hackers and published without...permission”. "All TUEs granted under the Tennis Anti-Doping Program are for the legitimate therapeutic use of medications and are in no way indicative of doping or a breach of the anti-doping rules,'' International Tennis Federation president David Haggerty said in a statement. 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.’

The US Anti-Doping Agency condemned the attempt to smear American athletes, with chief executive Travis Tygart branding them as ‘cowardly and despicable’. We will also disclose exclusive information about other national Olympic teams later.”

These most recent attacks follow an earlier attempt to find the address of Russian doping whistle-blower Yulia Stepanova, who is now living in hiding in the United States with her family.
The World Anti-Doping Agency reveals that Russian hackers broke into one of its databases and published confidential medical information on several prominent American female athletes who competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics, among them, gymnast Simone Biles, tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, and basketball player Elena Delle Donne. The named individuals all received "therapeutic use exemptions" from WADA allowing them to use otherwise banned substances to treat documented medical conditions.