BREACHED

Athletes’ Medical Data Has Been Hacked

IAAF fears infamous Russian group may leak drug information.

The IAAF—track and field’s governing body—said Monday that the organization’s computer networks had been breached by the Russian hacking group known as Fancy Bear and that athletes’ information is now vulnerable to leaks. Though the International Association of Athletics Federations was notified last month of a breach, it was unclear until recently whether any sensitive data was stolen. “Our first priority is to the athletes who have provided information they believed would be secure and confidential,” IAAF President Sebastian Coe said Monday. “They have our sincerest apologies and our total commitment to continue to do everything in our power to remedy the situation and work with the world’s best organizations to create as safe an environment as we can.” Athletes whose data was compromised were informed Monday. Fancy Bear was reported to have hacked the World Anti-Doping Agency in September and leaked confidential information about athletes and is believed to be the infamous group that infiltrated Democratic National Committee Chairman John Podesta’s emails. In recent years, dozens of Russian athletes have been banned from competition following documented reports of state-sponsored doping, including likely being blocked from the IAAF’s championships in London this year.