Venus and Serena Williams Were Allowed to Use Banned Drugs, Hacked Wada Files Reveal

Venus and Serena Williams Were Allowed to Use Banned Drugs, Hacked Wada Files Reveal
These startling revelations were made after a group of Russian hackers that goes by the name “Fancy Bears” gained access to Wada database Tuesday.

According to the leaked documents, former No. 1 tennis player Serena Williams was repeatedly allowed to take banned substances such as oxycodone, hydromorphone, prednisone and methylprednisolone in 2010, 2014 and 2015.

Similarly, Venus Williams was allowed to take prednisolone and triamcinolone among others in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The documents, meanwhile, do not reveal the diagnoses of the athletes which led to Wada giving them a waiver on these banned substances.

The doping watchdog on Tuesday confirmed that the group had been able to access athlete data, including confidential medical reports related to the Rio Olympics and subsequently released it into the public domain.

“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,” said WADA’s director general Olivier Niggli.

This leak has come at a time when world athletics is grappling with the menace of doping, with Russia in the spotlight as its track and field team was banned from the Olympics in Rio following accusations of state-sponsored doping.

Russian officials had earlier accused the sporting authorities of executing a US-led vendetta, a situation that won’t be helped with these latest revelations.

Another athlete affected in this leak is American star gymnast Simone Biles, who has since responded to the leaked information about her taking banned drugs. You can read all about that HERE