Olympic medallist Jess Fox clears name after Russians hack Rio medical records

OLYMPIC medallist Jess Fox says she was eager to distance herself from suspicious athletes after her medical records from the Rio Games were hacked by Russians.

OLYMPIC medallist Jess Fox says she was eager to distance herself from athletes with suspicious-looking Therapeutic Use Exemptions after her medical records from the Rio Games were revealed by Russian hackers.

Fox, who won bronze in the K1 in Rio and confirmed yesterday she will attempt to win two golds in 2020 by competing in the C1 (canoe) as well, became tangled up in the hacking scandal after a group named Fancy Bears published medical records of dozens of star athletes.

Serena Williams, Bradley Wiggins, Rafael Nadal, Mo Farah and Simone Biles were among the famous athletes who had their WADA records hacked in September, along with Australian athletes Kim Brennan, Emily Seebohm and Fox.

Olympian kayaker Jess Fox was involved in a hacking scandal in Rio. picture Craig Greenhill

The leaked records detailed how a large number of athletes had approved TUEs to treat medical conditions with otherwise prohibited drugs.

Fox was initially surprised she’d been hacked but says given the public’s impression of the leaked material, she was keen to clarify her TUE had been “emergency only” after being bitten by poisonous ants in May.

“It definitely felt a bit weird ... I didn’t feel like I was well-known enough to be on that list,” Fox said.

“What it did, the hacking also threw up questionable cases, where you go “oh wow, that person got sick every time three weeks before the world champs”. People saw some inconsistencies and thought it was a bit dodgy. I didn’t want people to put me in that same basket. I really wanted to make it clear my TUE was an emergency use only.”

Training in Rio three months before the Olympics, Fox was bitten several times by electric ants. She is allergic to bees, wasps and, as it turns out, electric ants, who possess one of the most painful bites in the world.

“I had a really bad reaction,” she said.

Fox was granted a TUE for an epi-pen and prednisolone to use during the Olympics, if bitten again. She wasn’t and the medication wasn't opened.

Wind, not ants, ended up being Fox’s main problem in Rio as the 2012 silver medallist finished up with a bronze medal after touching a gate during her final run.

Though the bubbly Sydney girl smiled as broadly as ever, she admits “it took me a while to digest Rio”.

Fox says she is a double gold medal chance at the 2020 Tokyo Games. picture Craig Greenhill

“I had so many mixed emotions about my race. I didn’t know if I was happy, if I was disappointed, if I was frustrated. It was definitely a mixture of everything,” Fox said.

High wind convinced her to paddle with a degree of caution, and though she won a medal, it left Fox feeling like she had raced within herself. She cancelled a holiday and flew to Europe to compete in the last two World Cup events and “use up all that pent-up energy”. Winning C1 (canoe) and K1 races not gave her “closure” on Rio, it helped her chart her course to the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

Fox won’t just chase that one elusive gold medal, she will aim for two.

The women’s C1 will become an Olympic event in 2020 and Fox believes she can emulate her feats in 2014, when she was crowned world champion in both the K1 and C1.

“I have been world no. 1 in the C1 since 2013 in that event,” she said.

“But up until now the C1 training has been on the back burner. It has just been once a week or twice a week, but that is something that’s exciting for me because I have managed to achieve a high level in the C1 without doing a lot.”

Fox plans to train for both disciplines equally in the next few years and will assess whether it is possible to do both in Tokyo based on the results on the next three world championships. She doesn’t want to choose between them.

“If you asked me four years ago I would have said my best chance to win gold was in C1, but now I actually believe I can win both,” Fox said.

“I know that can. I don’t know if I will, but I have won both events before. So I know I am capable of doing it.”

Originally published as Olympic medallist Jess Fox clears name after Russians hack Rio medical records