Russian Tennis Star Maria Sharapova
WADA Medical Records Hack: There’s A MUCH Bigger Story Here Than Just The U.S. Olympians
That WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) hack has produced concrete evidence of American Olympians using banned drugs is no surprise. The real issue is why the Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova has been disciplined so severely for doing the exact same thing.
This injustice cannot be allowed to stand as it demonstrates the clear-cut double standard that currently exists between the Western nations and Russia. In the case of Ms. Sharapova she was banned for two years over meldonium drug use.
“Maria showed the rectitude of motives. She did not know she was taking a banned drug. The outcome is tragic,” he added, saying that Russia’s Tennis Federation is ready to offer Maria Sharapova full support.
Sharapova failed a doping test at the Australian Open this year, when she tested positive for meldonium, also known as mildronate.
The player broke the news herself in March at a specially organized news conference in Los Angeles. She said that while she had failed the doping test, she had not been aware that the drug she was using for medical purposes had been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
(Source: Tennis star Sharapova banned for 2 years over doping – ITF)
Of course, the even bigger story than the WADA hack concerns the alleged steroid doping of tennis star Serena Williams. The Millennium Report has received a number of emails from qualified physicians who have declared their certainty that Serena Williams has doped with steroids over the years. They base their professional opinions on some of the very same evidence that is presented in the following exposé.
#1 Question In Women’s Tennis: Has Serena Williams Been Doping With Steroids?
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Russian hackers leak Simone Biles and Serena Williams files
BBC
AP • Image captionSimone Biles’ confidential medical data has been releasedThe World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has condemned Russian hackers for leaking confidential medical files of star US Olympic athletes.
Athletes affected include tennis players Venus and Serena Williams and teenage gymnast Simone Biles.
A group calling itself “Fancy Bears” claimed responsibility for the hack of a Wada database.
After the leak, Ms Biles said she had long been taking medicine for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
The hacker group had accused her of taking an “illicit psycho-stimulant”, but she said she had “always followed the rules”.
The Rio Olympics quadruple gold medallist had obtained the necessary permission to take prescription medicine on the Wada banned drugs list, USA Gymnastics said in a statement.
Image copyright@SIMONE_BILESWada said in a statement that the cyber attacks were an attempt to undermine the global anti-doping system.
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was “out of the question” that the Kremlin or secret services were involved in the hacking, Russian news agencies reported.
The hackers accessed records detailing “Therapeutic Use Exemptions” (TUEs), which allow the use of banned substances due to athletes’ verified medical needs.
“By virtue of the TUE, Biles has not broken any drug-testing regulations, including at the Olympic Games in Rio,” USA Gymnastics said.
Fancy Bears said TUEs amount to “licences for doping”.
The leaked documents allege that Serena Williams was granted permission to use drugs commonly used to treat muscle injuries, such as anti-inflammatories, while Biles is said to use Ritalin – a treatment for her ADHD.
Former – Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority head Richard Ings said: “Nothing I see here gives me cause for alarm,” adding it looked “totally normal”.
“The issue here is privacy breach.”
‘Compromising trust’
Russia’s track and field team were banned from the Rio Olympics over an alleged state-backed doping programme. All of its athletes are barred from the ongoing Paralympics.
“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,” Wada director-general Olivier Niggli said.
‘An act of revenge?’ – Analysis by BBC sports editor Dan Roan
This is the latest twist in what was already the biggest doping scandal in the history of sport, and further evidence of the bitter divisions it has sparked.
The hack appears to be an act of revenge – retaliation for Wada’s damning report into Russian state-sponsored cheating.
Although the Russian government has denied any involvement, it has always maintained that the country has been made a scapegoat for a much wider problem, and this will only add fuel to that fire.
Although the athletes concerned have broken no rules, the revelations – along with the threat of more leaks of other competitors’ medical records – will inevitably exacerbate the controversy surrounding TUEs at a time when sport’s leaders are desperately trying to restore trust.
Many athletes will now be nervously wondering if their private medical details records are the next to be made public.
And with the future of Wada currently in the balance, the fact its security was so badly compromised will raise more questions over the entire anti-doping system, especially after the account of Russian whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova was hacked last month, leading to fears for her safety.
US Anti-Doping Agency chief Travis Tygart called the hack “cowardly and despicable”.
“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,” he said.
PA • Serena Williams has won four Olympics golds in her career_
The US Olympic Committee has had “zero adverse findings from the Rio Olympic Games that weren’t 100% within the medical guidelines set forth by anti-doping authorities,” spokesman Patrick Sandusky said.
Earlier this month, Mr Niggli said Wada was experiencing almost daily cyber attacks originating from Russia.
Fancy Bears, which is also known as Tsar Team (APT28), has pledged to release confidential records from other national Olympic teams.
How Wada was hacked – Dave Lee, BBC North America technology reporter
REUTERSIt’s an old adage in cybersecurity that the weakest point of any supposedly secure system is the people that use it.Wada says it believes this hack was made possible thanks to a successful spearphishing attack. Phishing is a term given to the technique of tricking a user into giving up crucial information – often by clicking a link that takes them to a malicious website disguised as a familiar one, such as the log-in page for a bank or social network.bb
Spearphishing takes this one significant step further. While a phishing attack is often aimed at many people in the hope some will fall for it, spearphishing is highly targeted. Hackers perhaps identified a small number of people, or even just one person, and wrote a phishing attack specifically designed to trick them.
Other than pushing a message of vigilance among staff, spearphishing is incredibly difficult to defend against. Attackers often scour the internet, looking for added information on the target that might make an email more believable. Sometimes even knowing a person’s favourite football team is enough to tip the balance in making a spearphishing email seem genuine.