What The Medical Hack Means For Female Athletes of Color
Three talented female athletes of color were targeted this week after their medical information was released. The hack demonstrates much more, though.
Amidst a doping scandal at the Olympics, Russian hackers decided to fight back. Instead of trying to make amends, said hackers found the medical information for Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and Simone Biles. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s hacking isn’t the first of its kind either, but it’s the first specifically targeted at three female athletes of color.
The hack showed that the three women tested positive for banned substances. Simone Biles was the first to speak out about it, citing her ADHD as the reason for her exemption. Serena Williams also reportedly tested positive for painkillers and anti-inflammatories which seem obvious for the tennis great. While details aren’t out about what drugs Venus Williams tested positive for, I would assume they would be similar to the ones Serena takes.
Nicknamed the “Fancy Bears”, the hackers were looking to take down the U.S. after claiming the U.S. earned tainted victories. The hack did the exact opposite, though because none of the women actually used performance enhancing drugs. Biles used her medicine to help combat the symptoms of her ADHD while Serena Williams used her to combat the pain for playing tennis for almost her entire life. None of the ladies took steroids or something that would actually help be considered true “doping” by our standards.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 16: Gold medalist Simone Biles of the United States celebrates on the podium at the medal ceremony for the Women’s Floor on Day 11 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Rio Olympic Arena on August 16, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
What really shocked me though was how they tried to attack these women. The Williams’s sisters and Biles are in a rare group because they’re talented, hard-working and extremely successful which is why they’re being destroyed. Not to quote Taylor Swift here, but they tried to assassinate their characters and taint their victories because they’re smart, strong and fearless women.
Besides their similar characteristics, the athletes are all women of color. While that might not seem too relevant, athletes of color have always been on a different wavelength than white athletes. One example being with Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova because Sharapova is white and “classically beautiful” while Williams is seen as “unfeminine” because her body doesn’t adhere to normal white beauty standards. To refer back to this story, in particular, we haven’t heard much about Elena Donne Delle who was targetted in the hack while we are getting saturated with stories about the other three.
Related Story: Serena Williams Still Succeeds Despite Her Failures
Black athletes, in particular, are also written in a more negative light according to a study by the University of Missouri. “Not only does negative media coverage serve to legitimize social power inequalities, but also it is likely to undermine black athletes’ achievements and contribute to stereotype threat.” That’s exactly what the Russian hackers were trying to do. They were trying to undermine the success of the three athletes by leaking their private information. Honestly, it’s sickening to think what the Russian hackers will do next.
The one thing that the hack hopefully doesn’t do is break their spirits. For the Williams sisters, this is probably old news because they have been unfairly targetted throughout their careers while Biles is still so young and basically just started. Hopefully, the hack doesn’t discourage other female athletes of color from pursuing their Olympian dreams in fear of being taken down by those who can’t handle their success.