I'm feeling for Val Adams this morning.

You may have heard that Michelle Carter, the woman who beat Adams for the gold medal in Rio, received an exemption that allowed her to take banned substances for medical reasons.

The information has been leaked by Russian hackers, and it shows that Carter was allowed to use three drugs before the games.

Two of the drugs are common in the treatment of asthma, but she also used depo-medrol - it's an injectable form of steroid that you use to target chronic inflammatory conditions of the upper body apparently - arms, neck, etc. Injuries consistent, I'm sure, with being a shot-putter.

Carter was initially denied permission to use these drugs - that was in February last year.

Her application was rejected.

But she was granted therapeutic use for all three drugs during the Rio games.

I'm not sure what changed, but something did and she was allowed to use them.

Drug Free Sport New Zealand has defended Carter, in essence, saying this is Carter's private medical information and should not be allowed in the public domain. They were talking, in particular, about the asthma medication.

But if you're Val Adams, you would wonder, wouldn't you?

It's a very different situation to Ostapchuk at the London Olympics - the Belarussian was taking anabolic steroids, so a banned performance-enhancing drug.

But what is confusing is why Carter wasn't allowed to take these drugs before, but she was for Rio.

She has never thrown as far as she did in Rio - that was a personal best by a metre or so.

She threw 20.63 in her final throw to win gold.

But perception is everything, isn't it?

Very few of us are experts in sports medication or what is and isn't performance-enhancing - and I am most certainly not one of those experts.

But what is confusing is why Carter was denied therapeutic use of the drugs before, but when she reapplied, they approved the use of the drugs for Rio.

So how do you define a clean athlete?

How clean is clean?

I'm not referring to the asthma drugs here, but the steroid - depo-medrol - and the fact that you can inject this steroid for a chronic inflammatory condition.

For me, the Olympics in part is about the survival of the fittest. It's about managing everything - you're fitness, your preparation, it's about nutrition, it's about everything - but also about keeping the body together and injury-free right up until you race or compete.

So if you're taking a drug to ease inflammation, or to block some form of pain, then I'm not sure the playing field is truly even.

How do you feel about this?

Drug Free Sport New Zealand says it's okay. Do you agree?