(ATR) United States Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart says the Fancy Bear hackers are nothing but "con artists" who are desperately trying to distract the public from the issue of Russian doping.
"We are confident that people will see this for what it is: a malicious and illegal invasion of athlete privacy followed by a baseless smear campaign," Tygart told the BBC.
Tygart’s comments are in response to the latest leaks by hackers containing emails and documents from USADA detailing the use of prohibited substances by American athletes as allowed through the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).
Fancy Bears have previously released six batches of private information regarding TUE use by several athletes who competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics including Venus and Serena Williams, Simone Biles, Bradley Wiggins, Rafael Nadal, Mo Farah and Emily Seebohm.
Prior to the USADA leaks Thursday, the World Anti-Doping Agency believed the hackers only had access to information contained in the Rio 2016 Anti-Doping Administration and Management System which included TUEs.
However, the latest leaks show that the hackers potentially have access to information outside of the ADAMS system used for the Rio Games.
"[These leaks] smear the reputations of athletes and organizations from around the world who choose to operate with integrity and abide by the rules," Tygart said.
The hacks are speculated to be in response to the doping bans placed on Russian athletes at Rio, including the barring of the country’s entire athletics and Paralympic teams. Russia has denied being responsible for the hacks. Tygart says the hacks amount to nothing more than a diversion technique.
"This is just another desperate attempt to distract from the real issue of (Russia's) state-sponsored doping."
Written by Kevin Nutley
Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about theOlympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
