Simone Biles, Serena & Venus Williams and other athletes are the latest victims of an internet hack.
This week, a site called Fancy Bear, hacked the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) database and claimed to have exclusive information about a number of US Olympic athletes. None of the documents published actually showed any wrongdoing but did disclose instances where athletes had been granted Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) to use various medications for legitimate reasons. One of the star athletes who falls into that category is Simone Biles.
After news of the hack went viral, USA Gymnastics posted a statement saying, “USA Gymnastics recently learned that the database of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has been hacked and that drug-testing reports for several U.S. Olympic athletes, including Simone Biles, have been breached. In keeping with official protocols of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and WADA, Biles submitted and was approved for a therapeutic-use exemption (TUE), the proper paperwork for any medications that an athlete takes for an illness or condition that requires the use of a medication included on the WADA Prohibited Drug List, for prescribed medication(s) she takes. By virtue of the TUE, Biles has not broken any drug-testing regulations, including at the Olympic Games in Rio.”
It turns out that Simone has had ADHD since she was a child and has gone through the proper measures to compete as a clean athlete, getting her medication approved. Taking to social media, Simone said, “I have ADHD and I have taken medicine for it since I was a kid. Please know, I believe in clean sport, have always followed the rules, and will continue to do so as fair play is critical to sport and is very important to me. Having ADHD, and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of nothing that I’m afraid to let people know.”
The 19-year-old has handled this all like the class act she is and we’re proud of you Simone.
