Gabby Thomas TikTok storytime (explains her Whereabouts saga)

She might have said that, but remember that she did get provisionally suspended. Therefore her first explanation wasn't sufficient - only after the ban was announced she came up with her witnesses, and then got 1 test dismissed. She is now trying to rewrite history.

If you read Gault's post - the test that was cleared was the first one, not the third one (where witnesses would be relevant). It's not a case of her first explanation not being sufficient - she just didn't appeal the violations at the time.

This doesn't make sense. As pointed out above by JG and yourself, her stories keep changing.

Here is Reuters quoting her back in July 2020:

reuters.com

Sprinter Thomas cleared by AIU in whereabouts failure case

Reuters

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

Also note that the athlete gets a chance to respond after each test, especially after the third test, before the AIU would decide whether or not to provisionally suspend her. So whatever she said after missed test 3 (not to mention after test 1 and 2), did not convince the AIU.

Only her later added new evidence did. Far from "tossed out immediately", whether we talk about missed test 1 or 3.

Of course, not that the drugs were still in her system, sure whatever you say.
one of the more obvious dopers around

Is there a way to externally verify this claim? It would be very good evidence that she really was naive and made mistakes back in 2019.

It seems like they were right to clear her violation back then, and if she hasn’t missed a test since and passed all of them it’s tough to accuse her of anything shady.

'i didnt think the third missed test was so important'....

i started recording yself during the one hour window because i was so paranoid..

doesnt add up. liar.

She started recording herself after the first test was cleared (i.e. to avoid another 3rd missed test and hence another provisional suspension)

Most whereabouts failures are purposeful missed tests to hide ped use. The system generously allows 2 missed tests which a lot of athletes use to dope. They always have some story. 1 missed test should be a sign that you need to get serious about the system if you are a clean athlete.

Can we keep the racism out of this thread?

I've never really understood the details of the whereabouts system, but the more I'm learning the more archaic it feels. Hearing Aisha and Eric talk about it on their recent podcast was informative too. Apparently, the app for reporting your location is terribly slow to the point where a lot of athletes just email their contact instead. Imagine having to update the details every single time you went out for a coffee or to the gas station or walked to the library or anything at all that wasn't that exact prescribed location.

Aisha and Eric were also in favor of something that shares live location permanently with the testers. Committing to an exact location where you will stay for 60 minutes of every single day at the same time sounds very constraining. Aisha said she would always choose the earliest time in the morning because it's the only way she knew for sure she'd be there (sleeping). I still don't understand how the "calling during the hour" works, but the tester should be required to document proof of their presence at that location for the entire hour too in order to demonstrate that the athlete was not there.

All that said, if you're competing at the top level, it's a privilege, and you need to adapt to whatever system exists if you want to partake in it, even if it's not perfect. However, as a fan of the sport, the more I am learning about whereabouts failures, the more I'm losing trust that the current design of this system actually catches dopers vs. simply naive people who aren't taking it seriously enough. Maybe those people also shouldn't have the privilege of competing - I'm not sure. A live location that is constantly shared with the tester seems like it would modernize this system in a way that makes me trust more that three failures is more likely to be evasion than naivety. An hour is also a very large window - give 30 minute time slots instead.

The whereabouts system does catch some legitimate cheaters, like Mohamed Katir. He was engaged in an elaborate scheme to avoid testing and falsify his location.

Were all 3 whereabout testing failed incidences all in 2019? Not sure. But if they were that is an immediate suspension. Aka Kerley and the rule book.

She was cleared of one missed test because the tester left her house too early. The details are here: https://www.letsrun.com/news/2020/10/2020-has-been-the-year-of-whereabouts-failures-why/

Sounds a bit farfetched. I find this hard to believe.

OK Gabby, we get it.

lol

+1

Not only does she keep changing her story, she also forbids the AIU to present their side.

JG of course acts as if Gabby's side is the truth:

The fact that she has to go this far just hammers home her guilt. What a wretched piece of work she is.