Greetings citizens of the world. Allow us to introduce ourselves… We are Fancy Bears’ international hack team. We stand for fair play and clean sport.
We announce the start of #OpOlympics. We are going to tell you how Olympic medals are won. We hacked World Anti-Doping Agency databases and we were shocked with what we saw.
We will start with the U.S. team which has disgraced its name by tainted victories. We will also disclose exclusive information about other national Olympic teams later. Wait for sensational proof of famous athletes taking doping substances any time soon.
…
Artistic gymnast Simone Biles is one of those American doping athletes. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and ten-time world gold medalist. In August 2016, she tested positive after illicit methylphenidate, a psychostimulant, was detected in her sample. Moreover, Biles had been taking amphetamine for a while, according to the leaked data.
…
Serena Williams, world’s top tennis player, is taking oxycodone and hydromorphone (opioids), prednisone, prednisolone, and methylprednisolone as well. Her sister Venus Williams is used to take prednisone, prednisolone, triamcinolone and formoterol.
ETA - it appears as though shade is being thrown at this group as somehow representing Russian interests. I don’t know much about hackers. Also, some have said that these athletes apparently have TUE’s for this stuff?
More ETA - it further appears as though the “leaked files” are actually copies of the TUE reports. So now I’m further confused of whether to be shocked angry or shocked “frack Russia.”
I certainly wouldn’t treat the anonymously-posted information as if it came from a creditable news source–that’s for sure. They can basically say anything they want and have no accountability for any of it.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has confirmed that a Russian cyber espionage group operator by the name of Tsar Team (APT28), also known as Fancy Bear, illegally gained access to its anti-doping administration and management system (ADAMS) database via an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-created account for the Rio 2016 Games.
Methylphenidate is Ritalin. I wonder how many people would be outraged if they heard that Simone Biles was taking Ritalin, with a prescription, and with a TUE?
Does it show a TUE for Simone? I see them (that were posted anyway) for Serene, who seems to be prescribed steroids on the reg, but not for Simone. For example, the document leaked regarding Simone’s AAF for methylphenidate has no TUE attached.
But, maybe they chose not to leak that TUE document.
ETA - further reading has found the TUE for Biles.
Greetings citizens of the world. Allow us to introduce ourselves… We are Fancy Bears’ international hack team. We stand for fair play and clean sport.
We announce the start of #OpOlympics. We are going to tell you how Olympic medals are won. We hacked World Anti-Doping Agency databases and we were shocked with what we saw.
We will start with the U.S. team which has disgraced its name by tainted victories. We will also disclose exclusive information about other national Olympic teams later. Wait for sensational proof of famous athletes taking doping substances any time soon.
…
Artistic gymnast Simone Biles is one of those American doping athletes. She is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and ten-time world gold medalist. In August 2016, she tested positive after illicit methylphenidate, a psychostimulant, was detected in her sample. Moreover, Biles had been taking amphetamine for a while, according to the leaked data.
…
Serena Williams, world’s top tennis player, is taking oxycodone and hydromorphone (opioids), prednisone, prednisolone, and methylprednisolone as well. Her sister Venus Williams is used to take prednisone, prednisolone, triamcinolone and formoterol.
ETA - it appears as though shade is being thrown at this group as somehow representing Russian interests. I don’t know much about hackers. Also, some have said that these athletes apparently have TUE’s for this stuff?
More ETA - it further appears as though the “leaked files” are actually copies of the TUE reports. So now I’m further confused of whether to be shocked angry or shocked “frack Russia.”
So far it appears that these hackers have produced shocking evidence that US athletes are following WADA doping rules…
Does it show a TUE for Simone? I see them (that were posted anyway) for Serene, who seems to be prescribed steroids on the reg, but not for Simone. For example, the document leaked regarding Simone’s AAF for methylphenidate has no TUE attached.
But, maybe they chose not to leak that TUE document.
ETA - further reading has found the TUE for Biles.
Does it show a TUE for Simone? I see them (that were posted anyway) for Serene, who seems to be prescribed steroids on the reg, but not for Simone. For example, the document leaked regarding Simone’s AAF for methylphenidate has no TUE attached.
But, maybe they chose not to leak that TUE document.
ETA - further reading has found the TUE for Biles.
Maybe there is nothing to see here.
This is a Russian hacking group. The same group that hacked the DNC. Basically, they found all the TUE files for the US athletes and said, “hey, look, these people are using drugs!” When in reality, all of it was completely legal and approved by WADA.
Yes, I have put away my “shocked and outrage” cap for now. I still am surprised to see how many times Serena has been prescribed prednisone. I used to get bronchitis once a year back in my early teenage years due in part to being asthmatic…and the doctor didn’t really want to give me prednisone. When I took it I felt it’s effects quite strongly. Or at least, what I perceived to be the medicine’s effects.
I love how the “Fancy Bears Hack Team” puts a copyright notice at the bottom of the page to stop people from stealing content of a site devoted to stolen content. These guys are the best that Russia’s got? Because so far they seem like they are a few vodka bottles short of a case.
It’s really not that much when you consider that these documents go back 6+ years, especially considering the medical issues with which both of the Williams sisters have dealt.
Yes, I have put away my “shocked and outrage” cap for now. I still am surprised to see how many times Serena has been prescribed prednisone. I used to get bronchitis once a year back in my early teenage years due in part to being asthmatic…and the doctor didn’t really want to give me prednisone. When I took it I felt it’s effects quite strongly. Or at least, what I perceived to be the medicine’s effects.
Serena had blood clots and several very serious infections over the last five years or so (she missed a solid year of playing time during various illnesses, etc. I’m not sure if that’s tied to her prednisone use (I don’t know what it actually does), but it doesn’t surprise me one bit that she’s had some medications.
I certainly wouldn’t treat the anonymously-posted information as if it came from a creditable news source–that’s for sure. They can basically say anything they want and have no accountability for any of it.
So basically a bunch of state-sponsored Russian hackers pulled up some WADA files that showed that some well known US athletes were using substances that they had TUEs for. Meh.
This looks like Russia continuing to try to spin the whole state-sponsored doping thing as a western plot against them…and to explain their poor Rio performances (now that they can’t cheat the tests).
It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, considering how much angst came out of Alberto Salazar’s alleged use and abuse of TUEs for asthma and other conditions.
