Bobridge, Trott latest targets of 'Fancy Bears' WADA hack
TUEs released for British Olympic gold medallist and Australian
Jack Bobridge and Laura Trott became the latest targets of hackers who accessed the confidential medical records in the World Anti-Doping Agency's Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS) database.
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Hackers 'Fancy Bears' accessed data on the 2016 Olympians via a phishing attack on the International Olympic Committee. Earlier this week they released data on Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) granted to Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in the years prior to the Olympic Games.
WADA, USADA, UKAD and the IOC have all condemned the attacks, which are allegedly perpetrated by Russians in retaliation for calls of a blanket ban on Russian athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Trott's TUE dates back to 2009, a four-year exemption for asthma medication. Bobridge's TUE's relate to his already public struggles with rheumatoid arthritis in his hands and wrists.
Last year he said in an interview with Ride Media that he had stopped taking Methotrexate, which is not on WADA's prohibited substance list, and had "gone completely natural… and just changed my diet a lot: less dairy, less red meat, cut out a lot of sugars – everything like that".
However, the TUE revealed that he took courses of the oral corticosteroid prednisolone in 2011, 2012, 2014 and most recently received a TUE specifically for the Olympic Games for the substance.
The UCI defended its TUE procedures after the hacks this week, saying "A TUE can only be granted if there is unanimity amongst the panel of three TUEC (TUE Committee) members, which constitutes an additional level of rigor and goes beyond the applicable international standards."
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USADA chief Travis Tygart called the data breach "cowardly and despicable", and said they were an attempt at making it seem as if the athletes had done something wrong. "The athletes haven't," Tygart 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."
