an explanation? wrote:
Can someone explain why the 4 year ban to me? Ajee got a few months suspension for tainted meat, Gatlin got 2 years for steroids. Why a 4 year ban for Shelby? Was there a previous offense?
Yeah something is going on here, they aren't telling us something.
Not always wrote:
Shelby Houlihan:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CQHnnb5h6Ht/"Since I started running when I was 5 years old, I’ve had dreams of running professionally, setting records, winning an Olympic gold medal and being one of the best in the world. I have always blindly believed that I was good enough to achieve those things.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve put in more time, more miles, have become more dedicated, and have learned to genuinely love this sport. It’s what brings me the most joy. It’s where I feel the most me. I have always done it the right way. I’ve put my head down and just worked at being better year after year. I’ve stayed patient and trusted that the work and consistency would show.
I still have all of the same dreams I had when I was 5 and I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been able to have achieved some of them. I still have others that I’m working towards. But the thing that truly drives me is the love and joy I get from what I do and the curiosity to find out what my potential is.
On January 14th, 2021, I received an email from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), informing me a drug testing sample that I provided on December 15th, 2020 has returned as an Adverse Analytical Finding for an anabolic steroid called Nandrolone and that I am therefore subject to an immediate Provisional Suspension. When I got that email, I had to read it over about ten times and google what it was that I had just tested positive for. I had never even heard of nandrolone.
I have since learned that it has long been understood by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) that eating pork can lead to a false positive for nandrolone, since certain types of pigs produce it naturally in high amounts. Pig organ meat (offal) has the highest levels of nandrolone.
In the following 5 days after being notified, I put together a food log of everything that I consumed the week of that December 15th test. We concluded that the most likely explanation was a burrito purchased and consumed approximately 10 hours before that drug test from an authentic Mexican food truck that serves pig offal near my house in Beaverton, Oregon. I notified the AIU that I believed this was the source.
Although my levels were consistent with those of subjects in studies who were tested 10 hours after eating this source and WADA technical guidelines require the lab to consider it when analyzing nandrolone, the lab never accounted for this possibility. They could have reported this as an atypical finding and followed up with further testing. The anti-doping experts I have reached out to say they should have. I did everything I could to prove my innocence. I passed a polygraph test. I had my hair sampled by one of the world’s foremost toxicologists. WADA agreed that test proved that there was no build up of this substance in my body, which there would have been if I were taking it regularly. Nothing moved the lab from their initial snap decision. Instead, they simply concluded that I was a cheater and that a steroid was ingested orally, but not regularly. I believe my explanation fits the facts much better- because it’s true. I also believe it was dismissed without proper due process.
On June 11th, I received the news that the Court of Arbitration did not accept my explanation of what had occurred and has subsequently banned me from the sport for four years.
I feel completely devastated, lost, broken, angry, confused and betrayed by the very sport that I’ve loved and poured myself into just to see how good I was.
I want to be very clear. I have never taken any performance enhancing substances. And that includes that of which I am being accused. I believe in the sport and pushing your body to the limit just to see where the limit is. I’m not interested in cheating. I don’t do this for the accolades, money, or for people to know my name. I do this because I love it. I have so much fun doing it and it’s always the best part of my day."
This reminds me of what I said when I got popped.
raceday wrote:
Just curious. Why would a professional runner take nandrolone? How would it enhance performance? It is used by body builders and is a steroid. Would this aid distance running performance?
The same reason bodybuilders take it. PEDs except for substances like EPO are all recovery drugs. Exercise tears your body down. PEDs help the athlete recover from hard workouts so athletes using PEDs can do more work than athlete not using PEDs. PEDs by themselves aren't going to make athletes better. They enable a training load that is not possible clean.
Probably because the appeal process was playing out
Bball fan wrote:
Surely there must be some way to distinguish intentional doping with this steroid from incidental consumption in contaminated meat?
Why does it matter if it is intentional or not? You consume a prohibited substance, you gain the benefit from said prohibited substance. Otherwise it wouldn't trigger a positive test.
Since Nike basically owns USATF I am wondering why they didn't use their influence to protect her? Very curious.
Liberal Fact checker wrote:
nycdude24 wrote:
Here comes all the double standard people (well they’re already on Instagram”
Had it been an African athlete! Kara Goucher and everyone else would asking for her head but instead... “we believe you”
Never fails
#BelieveAllWomen
Mazie Hirono believes her.
many effects wrote:
Nandrolone can also increase red blood cell count + improve bone density, and it has relatively few side effects compared to more androgenic steroids. It’s a smart PED for a female distance runner to take
Except it has a relatively long half life. Like, a week beyond when you discontinue using it. Unless she thought she wasn’t going to get tested over the holidays, this would not be the drug to take. Makes me think it is some sort of contamination.
I think it's more the case of she was micro-doing at a level she didn't think would be detected. Clearly, she was wrong.
I read his statement. He truly may believe everything he wrote. In my mind, the bigger issue here is PEDS. It was shown the africans can go down to the local pharmacist to get EPO, or whatever. And it has been demonstrated that the stuff works.
So, there is no easy answer in all this. Pharma has resulted in a dirty sport. Just open the doors and let it all be? That is the tack some are suggesting in the Masters Track circles, at least for Masters Track.
Brojos,
You need to send out Jonathan Gault early to Oregon so he can track down this burrito truck. We need boots on the ground for an important investigate piece by LRC. Pay Jamin to eat a few of these burritos and then have him tested.
Concerned Non-Doper
Jager, Lomong, Rowbury, Huddle - All dropped from trials, just today. Houlihan banned today. This sport is so sketchy...
o0hn2 wrote:
Nike crushes my dreams wrote:
If you are a nobody weekend warrior like me, then buying burritos from random food trucks is no big deal. If you are a world class athlete subject to regular drug testing then it is just plain stupid.
^^^ This part.
Honestly, I don't know what to believe. I don't know anything about nandrolone. Never even heard of it.
I don't know what to believe. I want to believe Shelby, her statements seem convincing. But something in me just doesn't...quite.
I am utterly devastated for her. Devastated. If she is innocent, or even if she unknowingly took something...my god, what a tremendous loss of everything she has worked for in her life. You have to pick up the pieces and move forward, but my god...
Questions for letsrun sleuths.
were there rumors about Shelby before?
is she still with Matt Centro (sorry but this is relevant to me, as Centro was with NOP before and NOP has huge question marks around them)
Are athletes educated on banned substances at all?
what in the hell is nandrolone????
This is a bad bad day in distance running. A bad one, no matter who is guilty who is innocent and who is actually betrayed at the end of the day.
She hasn't been with Centro for a long time, maybe approaching 2 years now? Nandrolone is an anabolic steroid.
o0hn2 wrote:
an explanation? wrote:
Can someone explain why the 4 year ban to me? Ajee got a few months suspension for tainted meat, Gatlin got 2 years for steroids. Why a 4 year ban for Shelby? Was there a previous offense?
Yeah something is going on here, they aren't telling us something.
She likely got 4 years because the levels on her blood were so high and she made dumb excuses that wasted the judge's time.
cwarcarblue11 wrote:
Barry Badrinath wrote:
Everybody who tests positive has a story like this. It's not true. She tried to get away with micro-dosing steroids and got caught. That's it.
Her story is far more plausible than "micro-dosing steroids" and you know it.
No, people do not usually have such simple explanations as hers. She ate pork 10 hours before the test, and pork has been proven to have the substance.
This is WADA and CAS trying to look like they are doing a good job, when they are not.
She says she ate pork 10 hours before the test. is there any proof of this?
clearly, anybody can go on the internet, read the pork thing, and come up with this story.
I'm not saying it's a lie, but proof of eating from the food truck would be great.
Les wrote:
Since Nike basically owns USATF I am wondering why they didn't use their influence to protect her? Very curious.
It had to have been to the point beyond what they could influence. Registered a high enough level, no proof of tainted meat, etc. Also could be a case of letting a big fish get caught so a lot of other fish can get away.
Let's not forget: Shelby, her lawyer, and coach have had 6 months to smooth out and fabricate this story. It seems convincing at first glance. But really think about it. Why do all the best athletes get popped for tainted meat? Why would she eat pork off of a sketchy food truck as a professional athlete? I'm just not buying a lot of this story.
She is a doper. And her team mates are also likely dopers.
That's it? I check the boards and this 15 page freakout thread about big x 4 news and all it is is just one + test, and not even for a top meme athlete?
She passed a polygraph. It truly sucks for her if she is innocent of doping
Nike crushes my dreams wrote:
If you are a nobody weekend warrior like me, then buying burritos from random food trucks is no big deal. If you are a world class athlete subject to regular drug testing then it is just plain stupid.
I'm a nobody and even I wouldn't eat pork from a food truck.
Is it possible for LR to crowdsource this food truck and get this pork tested