American gymnast Simone Biles is an athletic phenomenon. She’s fresh off dominating the Rio Olympic games, where she won four gold medals and stood head and shoulders, even at 4’9″, above the competition. (Even Biles’ teammates acknowledged that they were fighting for silver medals, with the golds a foregone conclusion.) Besides her marvelous athletic gifts, Biles is known for her composure and grace under pressure. She recently displayed those characteristics again after being exposed in a privacy hack that revealed Biles was granted permission to use drugs that were on the banned list — though only after going through the proper authorities and receiving the okay to take the drugs.
While respectable media outlets like the New York Times aren’t revealing the drugs alleged in the hack for privacy reasons, Biles is taking her message directly to the public. She is as fearless in that arena, it appears, as she is during a floor exercise. Biles indicated that the drugs she received permission to take were for ADHD, tweeting: “Having ADHD, and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing that I’m afraid to let people know.” The ability to focus for long periods of uninterrupted time — which is enhanced by ADHD drugs — could be seen as an advantage during the grueling practice hours that elite athletes require to achieve Olympic-level proficiency. But Biles is out in front of the story, saying her ADHD meds aren’t an athletic issue at all. Just something she’s needed ever since she was a kid. She’s now 19. Whatever she has been taking and doing, the results are irrefutably good.
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) September 13, 2016
Having ADHD, and taking medicine for it is nothing to be ashamed of nothing that I’m afraid to let people know.
— Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) September 13, 2016
