GDS has left BTC, cites Houlihan explicitly

Rojo, I can understand how the athletes on BTC who haven't been friends with Shelby for years would not want to be asked about her situation after they have a great performance, and would feel annoyed by having her run the same workout as them nearby right after they finish theirs, and know that their coaches are devoting time and energy to Shelby that skirt or flout the WADA rules. This is not fair to the athletes in BTC. IT IS NOT PR. The other athletes don't need something negative/black cloud on the periphery of their training and racing lives that keeps hanging around. I don't mean Shelby personally, but her situation. Shalane and Jerry should keep their work with Shelby as separate from their other athletes as possible. Anyone is free to see Shelby in their personal time. The ANTI DOPING PROCESS DESPERATELY NEEDS REVISION/IMPROVEMENT. WHAT HAVE SHALANE, JERRY and NIKE DONE TO TRY TO FIX THE ANTI-DOPING PROCESS OR TO LEAD THE CHARGE FOR ANTI-DOPING REFORM? Nothing that I can find.

Jenny is also a known Dr Brown visitor…you sure she’s a clean baseline to compare to??

Here is some more context. Jenny Simpson was a two time runner up at NCAA XC and an Olympic finalist in the (relatively new) steeplechase in 2008, running 9:22. So a 9:12 and 3:59 the following year are within a normal progression. Once again these site owners do not seem to understand the sport, or they skew information to suit their point.

Her loss (and Canada's). She'll never run as well again. Her career trajectory will be something like Shalane Flanagan's after she left John Cook. Coulda been a contender.

And such a self-contradictory announcement: she just LOVES the BTC but she's leaving it? Pretty muddled message. Makes no sense.

Those who understand that WADA failed to adhere to its own testing recommendations in Houlihan's case do think that she's innocent.

Makes sense except, just now she is moving? Now it bothers enough to move? Weird all around. My first thought on thread was that she was more pissed that they sort of continue to support Shelbo.

Why can't GDS stay in one training group?

GDS isn’t wrong about Shelby, but she’s also nuts in her own right.

I like her as a runner, but she can’t stay in one place and is constantly having mental health and anxiety issues and telling us all about them and how hard she has it. This is also a woman married to a man who talks about how stressful it is to run without being her “authentic queer self” because she’s apparently bi, so that means she’s somehow at risk in homophobic countries even though she’s, you know, married to a man. She also thinks changing her hair colour gives her a personality and makes her interesting. She badly seems to need attention and wants to be oppressed. The whole “it’s a miracle I showed up in shape at the Olympics…” Like, everything gives her mental health issues and she’s always somehow a victim.

Some insta notes: gds liked a comment thanking her for standing up for clean sport.

What is wrong with her discussing mental health and anxiety issues? Are you implying she’s being dramatic? Those issues are real and incredibly difficult for those that have them

None of these things imply “victimhood.”

It must be difficult to be so offended by other people making mundane observations about their own lives that don’t concern you whatsoever.

Your expert opinion on the 'little boys on keyboards' message board is so great.

You’ll see. The story changes every 3 seconds: a month ago she was talking about how she showed up at Bowerman mentally and physically scarred from her last training situation and they revived her and the coaches are like parents to her; now suddenly she could hardly train from the anxiety about Shelby and almost wasn’t ready for the Olympics, and before that it was another issue, and before that…she’s a great runner but she’s not a particularly stable person and if you follow her or read any of her interviews there’s one issue after another and she seems badly to need attention for anything but running. Obviously she was affected by her mother dying when she was young and that caused trauma, but as a runner she doesn’t seem able to settle and is always searching for the next thing that will “fix” her.

Like I said, I like her as a runner but like a lot of young people she needs attention on social media and always has some issue as a result.

What do any of these things have to do with “attention?” Why would an “attention seeker” decamp off to Victoria, BC?

It sounds like you’re projecting a lot of your own biases onto this situation and onto Gabriella more broadly.

It’s no wonder that people who suffer from anxiety and other mental issues tend not to discuss it publicly. You have no grounds whatsoever to be calling her “nuts” or “attention-seeking.”

We wouldn’t be having this conversation if she’d cited an Achilles’ tendon issue as to why she felt underprepared for the Olympics. But they really aren’t that different.

Rojo, Gault, and all of LRC staff have been in the tank for Jerry and BTC from jump street. No surprises that rojo would contort the facts like a pretzel to fit his narrative.

This tells me all that I need to know about your opinion.

Anyway, you can listen for yourself what she was saying about BTC two months ago. No mention of her training being derailed by Shelby’s test.

citiusmag.com

From Canada With Love with Gabriela DeBues-Stafford - Citius Mag

David Melly

Gabriela DeBues-Stafford is one of the world’s best middle distance runners, finishing 5th in the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics and has personal bests of 14:31 for 5k and 4:17 for the mile.

Open link

She needs a change. She was the #2 ranked distance runner in the world indoors and walked away from Belgrade without a medal.

Something was not working towards the end there (peaking).

Agreed

It’s probably better for Jerry that she left. She is a ticking time bomb. She would have claimed something at some point. I’m not sure if her current coach knows what he is getting into (the appeal of training a top runner is probably too strong).

I obviously don’t like Jerry since he lied about knowing what Nandrolone was. But I don’t dislike him enough to wish that he falls in the crazy athlete trap.