The Russian hacker group that hacked into the database of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), leaking the medical records of 25 sportspeople from the Rio 2016 Games, included among its victims the Danish gold medallist swimmer Pernille Blume.
WADA has confirmed that Fancy Bear managed to get access to confidential information about the athletes’s use of drugs categorised as “therapeutic use exemptions”, which are only permitted to treat an illness or condition.
“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,” said Olivier Niggli, the director general of WADA.
“WADA condemns these ongoing cyber-attacks that are being carried out in an attempt to undermine WADA and the global anti-doping system.”
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Medicine for asthma
The Danish swimmer admitted back in 2010 that she had been using medicine to treat her asthma, which helps her perform better.
“After I was diagnosed with asthma, I started taking medication and it worked really well. I was able to train and perform much better,” Blume told Astmanaut magazine.
Besides Blume, the leak has also affected US tennis playing sisters Venus and Serena Williams and US gold medal-winning gymnast Simone Biles.
In total, Fancy Bears, also known as Tsar Team, have released the medical records of ten athletes from the US, five each from Germany and the UK, and one from Denmark, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Russia.
However, the group has also pledged to release confidential data from other Olympic teams.
The Russian government has denied any involvement in the attack.
