London - Rafael
Nadal and British Olympic great Mo Farah said they have nothing to hide
after their medical records were the latest to be leaked by a
cyber-hacking group on Monday.
They are among more than 60 international athletes, including 17 from
the British team at the Rio Olympics, who have had their medical files
- mostly therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) - published online by the
so-called Fancy Bears, who have hacked into World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) records.
There is no suggestion that any of the named athletes - among them
some of the biggest names in sport - have done anything wrong.
Spanish tennis ace Nadal and four-time Olympic champion distance
runner Farah were shown to have used TUEs in the past to gain permission
to take substances that figure on WADA's banned list.
TUEs can be issued to athletes who have an illness or condition that requires the use of normally prohibited medication.
"When you ask permission to take something for therapeutic reasons
and they give it to you, you're not taking anything prohibited," Nadal, a
14-time Grand Slam winner, told Spanish media.
"It's not news, it's just inflammatory."
Nadal, who has twice been granted a TUE, said he had never taken
anything to improve his performance but took what doctors advised him
was the best medication to care for his troublesome knee.
Far from complaining about the leak of his files - believed to be
the work of Russian hackers - Nadal said he would support the
publishing of all medical records.
"It would be much more beneficial for sportsmen and women, spectators
and media that every time a drug test is taken the news is made public
and two weeks later there are the results," he added.
"This would end the problem. Sport has to take a step forward and be totally transparent. I have been saying this for years."
Nadal and Farah were among 26 athletes in Monday's fourth batch to
have their medical history published by Fancy Bears, following the likes
of Serena and Venus Williams, American gymnast Simone Biles and British
Tour de France-winning cyclists Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.
There is no suggestion they are involved in any wrongdoing but the
leaking of their records has reopened the debate about TUEs and in
particular whether the system is open to abuse from competitors gaining
an advantage by taking banned drugs.
The first of Farah's two
TUEs was in 2008 for the same drug prescribed to fellow Olympic champion
Wiggins -- triamcinolone, a type of steroid.
His other exemption was for a saline drip and two pain-killers that
the 33-year-old was given after he collapsed in Park City, Utah, where
he was training at altitude in 2014.
He originally said this 2014 TUE was his only one at a press
conference in Birmingham last June when asked about his coach Alberto
Salazar, who remains under investigation by the United States
Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
But a few weeks later in an interview with Sky Sports News he mentioned the 2008 triamcinolone injection.
A spokesperson for Farah said: "As Mo has previously stated, he has
got nothing to hide and doesn't have a problem with this or any of his
(medical) information being released - as evidenced by the fact that he
voluntarily shared his blood data with the Sunday Times last year.
"Mo's medical care is overseen at all times by British Athletics and
over the course of his long career he has only ever had two TUEs."