Russian President Vladimir Putin said that therapeutic use exemptions for banned substances "give an unfair advantage, and suggested athletes who use them should be excluded from major competitions," according to the AP. TUEs allow athletes with medical conditions "to take medications that would usually be banned." Putin: "We need to understand what to do about (TUEs), otherwise we could soon face all records and victories going only to people who are ill with, let's say, chronic illnesses." Putin suggested "putting restrictions on athletes with TUEs." He said, "Maybe they can be put in a special category, or their achievements, points, seconds and honors can be considered in a special way." At a later meeting with sports officials, Putin said that all TUEs "should be made public, a move that could face significant resistance from athletes," as well as possible legal obstacles related to the confidentiality of medical records. He said, "A person should decide, does he want people to know and does he want to do sport?" (AP, 10/11). The AP reported in a separate piece U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart called Putin's stance "laughable, as the entire world has agreed to allow athletes to use medication for documented health needs like birth control, acne, life-saving surgery or established asthma." When approved as required, Tygart said, "none of the medicines gives a performance-enhancing advantage." He added, "It either shows a clear misunderstanding of the rules or it's another attempt to smear innocent athletes in response to the uncovering of Russia's state-sponsored doping system that gave athletes a tremendous performance advantage and corrupted the Sochi Olympic Games" (AP, 10/11).
