Why Does Gabby Thomas get a free pass

if that is true, she should pick up a little. The place is a wreck.

There is a somewhat predictable script for cheating and Gabby's life and career trajectory absolutely does not fit the mold of a cheater. Athletes tend to cheat when they think they need to, believe they will not get caught and/or their need for money or adulation outweighs the risk and they are able morally justify it. In many cases these are athletes who were on the come-up, but have plateaued trying to make the jump from B level A or aging athletes trying to hang on to their career. There is also a category of athletes who are tricked initially and/or coerced by coaches and federations.

Or, from me! I had the same thoughts during the interviews yesterday (NY Randall Island meet). She reminds me of Marion Jones...always smiling but we all know what's up.

That is so laughably delusional and naive.

Why is such a big deal that she went to Harvard?

Nobody is interested where she went to school; they just want to see her run

Hot, fast and Harvard is a big deal.

This.

Gabby is just as shady as anybody who dodged tests multiple times. But she's likeable, so it's easier to cut her some slack. Not suggesting athletes be something they are not, because each person is unique. But it should be easy to treat the people around you with respect. She does that, thus she isn't the target of internet trolls and media types. Plenty of others out there who make themselves targets.

She's not getting a free pass. The savages are watching and waiting.

This is why she gets a free pass...

reuters.com

Athletics: Sprinter Thomas cleared by AIU in whereabouts failure case

Reuters Staff

American sprinter Gabrielle Thomas's provisional suspension for allegedly failing to make herself available for anti-doping tests has been lifted, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday.

Open link

I understand the slight suspicion, however as rojo said she was cleared to a point of only actually having one whereabouts issue, which is way more common than you people seem to think. It was not a “loophole”, at least for the 3rd one I am very sure she was at a college hangout with around 10 other people, none of whom heard the doorbell and she was able to clear herself with multiple witness statements and location services showing she was there the entire time.

If people are not even prepared to give the benefit of the doubt then I wonder what the point of this system is in the first place. Are you seriously saying that the AIU never makes a mistake, ever?

Because 2 of her 3 whereabouts failures weren't her fault. New Haven has always been a ghetto dump and no collector wants to knock on the door of a random house in the hood.

And the hood there is anywhere off campus. It's not like UChicago where you'll likely be shot for going outside the safe zone, but it's still a ghetto and rundown town with out of control violent crime.

And another thing, this provisional suspension was well before she became as good as she is now. You mean to tell me she was purposely evading tests while training at Harvard, and then somehow improved drastically years later whilst probably being tested more without incurring any further whereabouts violations?

The comments here would be laughable if they weren’t so pitifully sad. Pontifications from people who have never put their name on a single form from UKAD, USADA or any other anti-doping organisation.

Gabby Thomas is legitimate and anyone who knows anything about professional athletics knows it. On the subject of whereabouts and missed tests, every athletes misses one. Every one. There’s not one athlete in the testing pool who hasn’t had at minimum one missed out of competition test in their career. Try as hard as you can, it happens. The anti-doping agencies don’t care how lovely Thomas or anyone else is. The days of giving a star a pass have gone.

Rojo did say that she was cleared on 2 of the 3 cases, but the AIU confirmed that only for 1 of the 3. See Reuters link above.

Did the AIU ever say why? Gabby said she had witnesses from her gathering at home.

When have interviewers confronted any athlete about such violations?! The broadcast the other day was full of filler. NBC was thankful to have her provide a few minutes of inane yapping during the long delays between the races. Ato and Sanya are not journalists, do not expect real questions.

What I'm saying is that it's disappointing that she is America's sweetheart, when Tori Bowie was thrown to the wolves. Ask yourself why that is?