Serena Williams & Simone Biles accused of doping by Russian hackers
Doping accusations are lobbed around all the time. While I don’t have a lot of faith in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), that’s basically all we’ve got. WADA made headlines several months back when they released their findings about a Russian state-sponsored doping program for their Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Team Russia was light at the Rio Olympics, and Team Russia was banned entirely from the Paralympics. Russia is really, really mad about it too. They’ve been mad about it for months. So a state-sponsored hacker group hacked into WADA and “released” the WADA medical records of several American athletes. Does it mean something specific that the records are all for African-American women? Simone Biles, Serena Williams and Venus Williams were all – allegedly – targets specifically in what’s being called one of the most significant “spear phishing” hacks ever. As in, Russia was looking for specific records of specific athletes. As in, they went in looking for Serena, Venus and Simone.
So, what was found? For the Williams sisters, everything is “alleged” because no one has confirmed that the information released by Fancy Bears (that’s the Russian hacker group’s name, for real) is authentic. What we do know is that all three women are alleged to have been given Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) for banned substances. In Serena’s case, they allege that WADA had given her TUEs for painkillers and anti-inflammatories. The way TUEs work is that – I think? – the athlete’s doctors tell WADA ahead of time what kind of medication is required and normally prescribed, and WADA issues a TUE accordingly. Considering Serena’s history of injuries, I would not be surprised to learn that she could have been on painkillers and/or anti-inflammatories at various points in her career. Fancy Bears doesn’t say when this happened. As for Venus… um, she has Sjögren’s Syndrome. My guess is that she was given TUEs for her medical treatment.
As for Simone Biles, Fancy Bears alleges that she was given a TUE for an “illicit psycho-stimulant.” Guess what it was? Ritalin, for ADHD. Simone did say something about the charge, posting this on her Twitter:
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) September 13, 2016
Fancy Bears claims that they are merely lifting the veil on “how Olympic medals are won” and that the American team “disgraced its name by tainted victories.” For the record, Serena didn’t even get past a few rounds at Rio and she won nothing. Venus did win a medal in mixed doubles, and we all know Simone Biles is the most delightful fairy princess in the world and of course she won a million medals, although I think it’s a stretch to say that Ritalin would have “helped” her Olympic performance. While WADA is nowhere near perfect, it is the governing system and if they’re issuing these TUEs, then… what is there to be done about it, really? I mean, we can have a conversation about how TUEs are issued, but mostly I just think this is Russia being butthurt that their state-sponsored doping program was so sensationally exposed.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmbmhjbIJ3e9KeqZ6mkZTEqrjLopimq4%2Botq67zZ6Wm6GcmsCgrcKcrKydlJS8p6vDqKeippeUr7qr0a6qrKGRo6yprcKknKurXw%3D%3D