Author: Larissa Costa Duarte, Assistant Professor at Huron University College, Centre for Global Studies, Western University

Elite gymnast Simone Biles made headlines in 2021 when she withdrew from the team finals and the individual all-around finals in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for mental health reasons. Before that, Biles’s confidential medical records from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) database had been leaked by hackers alongside the records of dozens of other athletes worldwide. The illicit disclosure, which happened right after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, revealed that some athletes were legitimately using banned substances — those included in the WADA Prohibited List — to treat specific medical conditions. But should the therapeutic use of…