MO Farah insisted he has “nothing to hide” after his medical records were exposed by Russian hackers.
The double Rio champion is among the latest group of British sports stars to be targeted by the Fancy Bears group.
The leak shows two instances when Farah was granted a TUE – one for the steroid triamcinolone in 2008 and one for morphine in 2014.
That is despite insisting last summer in a row involving his coach he had only ever had one.
A spokesman for Farah last night said: “As Mo has previously stated he has got nothing to hide.
“And he doesn’t have a problem with this or any of his ADAMs (anti-doping administration and management system) information being released – as evidenced by the fact he voluntarily shared his blood data 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.
“The first was back in 2008 for a one-off anti-inflammatory treatment to an injury.
“The second was in 2014 when Mo collapsed and was airlifted to hospital for emergency care, which consisted of painkillers and being placed on a drip.”
Cyclist Callum Skinner, golfer Justin Rose and rower Helen Glover were also among those to have information leaked.
Meanwhile, SunSport can reveal doping expert Dick Pound raised concerns about the growing misuse of powerful medication for asthma conditions among sports stars a DECADE ago.
And ex-World Anti-Doping Agency chief Pound, who was involved in the McClaren report this year which found evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia, has long called for the names of athletes who have requests for TUEs rejected to be published.
It comes as cycling star Bradley Wiggins is under mounting pressure to justify his use of strong medication to treat a pollen allergy which he claimed was exacerbating his asthma.
He received three jabs for triamcinolone acetonide – strong steroid injections – shortly before grand tour races including his 2012 Tour de France victory.
The substance is banned but Wiggins was given permission through the TUE system because of his medical condition, having already been granted waivers for asthma inhalers.
Russian hackers, who penetrated WADA’s computer system, have also identified Rio Olympics star Laura Trott getting a TUE from 2009 to 2013 for salbutamol for an asthma condition with Tour de France ace Chris Froome gaining TUEs for prednisolone, a steroid which can be used to treat chest complaints.
While there is no suggestion of wrong doing, Pound himself did raise concerns back in 2006 when he was WADA chair, about the rising numbers of questionable TUES and whether prescriptions were often justified or misused.
Writing in his book “Inside Dope” the outspoken Canadian said: “I think we should publish a list of those TUES that are rejected, revealing the names of the athletes, the names of the physicians who issued them and why we rejected them. Why shouldn’t these physicians be exposed as the agents of cheating they are?
“There should be little but contempt for medical practitioners who are complicit in doping. Such conduct can be something as simple as granting a TUE for the use of a prohibited substance when there is NO genuine medical need for it.
Related stories
“I have often commented about the astonishing percentage of brave and dedicated athletes in international sport who seem to have arrived at the pinnacle of performance despite a medically acknowledged condition of asthma!
“This requires them to take Beta-2 agonists to help them breathe, all cheerfully prescribed by physicians.
“Issuing questionable TUEs has become so commonplace that we had to establish an international TUE committee to review all TUEs in order to determine which are justified and which are not.”
Beta-2 agonists, used in the treatment of asthma, can enhance the flow of oxygen and in the case of salbutamol in enough amounts can have an effect similar to steroids.
Corticosteroids – such as the ones used by Wiggins and Froome – are anti-inflammatory agents used to treat asthma and hay fever.
But Dr John Dickinson, head of the respiratory clinic at the University of Kent, who has screened Team GB athletes for asthma, said sufferers could normally control their symptoms through the use of inhalers.
And South African Dr Jeroen Stewart, who has worked with top cyclists and has called on Team Sky to explain why Wiggo needed to take such a strong corticosteroid before big races, said: “Either they have prescribed it as a preventative medicine which doesn’t sit well with me or he had such serious symptoms that they were completely uncontrollable.”
Leave a comment