Williams sisters in drug row
RUSSIAN PLOT TO DISCREDIT ATHLETES
SERENA and Venus Williams — and Olympic gymnastics sensation Simone Biles — have been caught up in a drugs storm involving Russian hackers. The group, calling themselves the Fancy Bears, raided World Anti-Doping Agency files to reveal details of medication used by Biles and the tennis sisters. The files show they have taken banned substances but there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing because they have been given permission to take them for therapeutic purposes. The doping agency has condemned the Russian hackers.
Serena and Venus Williams have been targeted by russian hackers attempting to expose high-profile american sports stars for using banned substances.
While there is no suggestion that the tennis sisters have done anything wrong, files obtained from the World anti-Doping agency have revealed the details of medications they are using.
although the substances are on the agency’s banned list, the International Tennis Federation said the Williams sisters had been given permission to use the drugs for ‘therapeutic use’. The agency confirmed yesterday that a russiabased cyber espionage group had gained access to their database via an International Olympic Committee account created for the rio Games.
Details of medication for USA’s Olympic gymnastics sensation Simone Biles, who won four gold medals in rio, have also been revealed. The International Federation of Gymnasts said Biles had done nothing wrong.
Last night the situation was being presented as a sporting cold war, with the russians looking to discredit the americans after the suspension of russian athletes from the 2016 Olympics for being part of a statesponsored doping programme.
The documents leaked by a hackers group called the Fancy Bears allege that Serena Williams used oxycodone, hydromorphone, prednisone and methylprednisolone on different occasions since 2010. Venus Williams is said to have used prednisone, prednisolone and triamcinolone. Permission had been granted by doctors at the International Tennis Federation under exemptions granted for therapeutic use.
Such drugs can be prescribed for the treatment of common muscle injuries and australian doping expert richard Ings tweeted last night: ‘Serena Williams having a two- day treatment with a glucocorticosteroid is simply normal. It’s an antiinflammatory.’
Biles is said to have used ritalin, a drug used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
and Biles (right) tweeted last night: ‘I have ADHD and I have taken medicine for it since I was a kid. It is nothing to be ashamed of. nothing that I’m afraid to let people know.
‘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.’
While more leaks may follow — and reopen the debate about the number of athletes who use banned substances under the therapeutic use system, WaDa saw it last night as a blatant attempt to undermine the fight against drug cheats. In a statement, director general Olivier niggli said: ‘WaDa deeply regrets this situation and is very conscious of the threat that it represents to athletes whose confidential information has been divulged through this criminal act. WaDa condemns the cyber-attacks that are being carried out in an attempt to undermine WaDa and the global anti- doping system. ‘ WaDa has been informed by law enforcement authorities that these attacks are originating out of russia. Let it be known that these criminal acts are greatly compromising the effort by the global anti- doping community to re-establish trust in russia.’
Last night the US anti-Doping agency condemned the attempt to smear american athletes, with chief executive Travis Tygart branding them as ‘cowardly and despicable’.
‘It’s unthinkable that in the Olympic movement, hackers would illegally obtain confidential medical information in an attempt to smear athletes to make it look as if they have done something wrong,’ said Tygart.
‘The athletes haven’t. In fact in each of the situations, the athlete has done everything right in adhering to the global rules for obtaining permission to use a needed medication.’
a spokesman for russian president Vladimir Putin rejected WaDa’s statement blaming russian hackers. ‘It’s absolutely out of the question,’ spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by russian news agencies.
But the Fancy Bears warned that this was only the beginning. ‘We will start with the US team which has disgraced its name by tainted victories,’ they said.