The Polish Anti-Doping Agency (POLADA) announced on Wednesday that it had fallen victim to a cyberattack through which false details about positive tests of several athletes was made public.
The alleged leaks listed lots of Poland's most famous sportspeople, including world primary tennis player Iga Swiatek and FC Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, who has been certainly one of Europe's leading footballers for greater than a decade.
The alleged leaks were subsequently shared on social media and labelled “fake” by POLADA.
In a press release posted by the agency on X (formerly Twitter) in response to a now-deleted tweet outlining the allegations, it said: “The information presented on this post about Polish athletes is fake.
“All of these posts are aimed at discrediting Polish athletes who do not deserve it because they compete cleanly. None of these athletes tested positive and none of the data provided matches the doping controls carried out.”
The information presented on this post about Polish athletes is fake. All of those posts aim to discredit Polish athletes who don’t deserve it because they compete cleanly. None of those athletes tested positive and none of the info presented matches the doping controls performed.
— Polish Anti-Doping Agency (@POLADA_official) 14 August 2024
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), the authority chargeable for doping in tennis, announced that there was no evidence of negative findings against Swiatek in its records.
The agency's documents also cover the period during which Swiatek is alleged to have tested positive, although the fight against doping was the responsibility of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on the time.
In a subsequent tweet, POLADA wrote: “In connection with the hacker attack, we inform you that the data is used by cybercriminals for various purposes, including broad disinformation.
“Fake news has appeared in the public space that discredits Polish athletes. Please do not spread it.”
“None of the athletes listed will have a positive result and none of the dates listed correspond to a doping control being carried out.”
— Polish Anti-Doping Agency (@POLADA_official) 14 August 2024
The Swiatek camp referred to POLADA's statements when asked for comment.
POLADA is the National Anti-Doping Organization (NADO) for Poland recognized by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
WADA is chargeable for coordinating anti-doping rules and policies in all sports, including tennis and football.
Lewandowski’s representatives were also asked for a press release.
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