Thursday, September 15, 2016

Biles & ADHD meds

Well, this is a tricky one.

http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a39227/simone-biles-hacked/

Russian hackers come out with information about Simone Biles' ADHD meds.

Yes, they were allowed by the rules.  Yes, they were necessary to her as a person.

But did they give her an unfair advantage?

What about another athlete who might have had ADHD, but wasn't diagnosed or prescribed meds?

What about an athlete who could have been diagnosed, but didn't go to a doctor, or couldn't afford to, and bought the meds on the black market?  What if the athlete came from a country with different ideas about mental health care than the USA?

Are ADHD meds necessary for gymnastics?  Or only for school?  Would she have had to take them on the day of the competition?

Did they stunt her growth, making her shorter, and therefore making flips easier?  Was this an unfair advantage in this sport?

This is all sort of ambigous.

Then it there was that cyclist, who said the steroids were related to his cancer treatment, when in fact they weren't -- and all sorts of Tour de France results had to be voided...

Perhaps some more consideration has to be given to these rules.


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