Hackers leak Swiss athletes’ medical records

Both Cancellara (pictured) and Schurter were gold medal winners at this year’s summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Keystone

Confidential medical records of Swiss cyclists Fabian Cancellara and Nino Schurter, kept by the World Anti-Doping AgencyExternal link (WADA), were made public on Friday by a presumed Russian hacker group that goes by the name of Fancy Bears.

Since WADAExternal link announced it had been hacked on September 13, the Fancy Bears hackers have released confidential medical data of 107 athletes, but this is the first time Swiss athletes have been affected.

Among the data for 41 athletes released on Friday were two authorisation certificates for “therapeutic use exemptions” (TUEs) for Cancellara, a road cyclist, and three for Schurter, a cross-country cyclist.

TUEs are issued by doctors, and permit athletes to be treated with drugs that could otherwise lead them to test positive during a drug test. Without such an authorisation, athletes risk violating anti-doping codes.

Trek, Cancellara’s professional cycling team, issued a press release on Friday evening confirming that he had received treatment for bee stings in 2011 and 2013, and that the medicine had been administered by emergency services, and not a team doctor.

According to Swiss News Agency SDA, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach condemned the leaks, calling them “unacceptable”, and saying that they could bring innocent athletes into connection with doping.