GDS has left BTC, cites Houlihan explicitly

So true! 🤣

This is probably the best assessment out of several pages of wild speculation.

It's obvious to me that Houlihan's positive test was a result of a contaminated supplement. Instead of putting her hands up and admitting her mistake, Houlihan has gone all in with the ridiculous Tyler Hamilton esque excuse. Schumacher and, his unwitting athletes along for the ride, have taken the plunge as well.

Schumacher is often hailed as a genius coach but his training is actually very simplistic (essentially the same stuff Martin Smith had him do in the 90s). He just gets really good athletes and brutalizes them. The ones that survive run well. This is not a sophisticated plan. Consider this: Bowerman's strength coach is Jerry's college buddy. No qualifications, no experience, just a guy who liked to hit the weight room after his own career ended. Schumacher has entrusted the chassis of some of the highest octane athletes in the world to his college buddy. There are multiple people in Portland and greater Oregon (Jay Dicharry in Bend, David McHenry on the east side of Portland) who really know how to get athletes strong and keep them healthy, but Schumacher is sticking with his college buddy. That is dumb loyalty.

What is often assessed as caginess or being secretive is really just Schumacher being on the spectrum. This is compounded by living in an echo chamber where everyone tells him he's a genius and nobody questions his decisions. Flanagan is the same. People have been telling her how great she is since she was in high school. While some would like this to be an evil conspiracy it's really just a bunch of simple minded people who have never been held accountable and have been allowed to act on their misguided whims with impunity.

Even with the hyphenated last name and non-binary sexuality stuff, Republicans probably got so stiff reading that statement from GDS.

Hot take: Jerry engineered this whole thing to get Shelby to stick to his planned racing schedule for her for the next 4 years. It's working.

Replying to something HBHS 220y said a couple of pages ago, has there even been any discussion of what directives BTC athletes were given about diet choices between January and June 2021? When was the burrito defense submitted? If Jerry and others believed SH was the victim of an unfortunate burrito tainting, why would they not formally warn all of their athletes to adopt safer eating practices? If you were a BTC athlete and you were told six months after the fact that your totally innocent teammate tested positive because of something she ate, and the group’s leaders didn’t warn you to be extra cautious, wouldn’t you be angry?

The burrito excuse isn’t the biggest joke of this whole episode but it’s in the running. BTC’s conduct is the rea joke.

Houlihan hasn't been practicing with "the club," as you yourself acknowledge with that statement. Houlihan was cooling down when GDS (and presumably her training partners) was starting her workout.

But Houlihan's use of the same facilities used by the other BTC members may indeed constitute a violation, according to this AIU quote from the LRC article:

“If the training relationship between an ineligible athlete and a coach is a strictly private arrangement and is entirely unconnected to USA Track & Field or any of its affiliated members (such that it is not funded by USATF or the member in any way and does not involve the use of facilities, personnel or other athletes of USATF or the member), it would not appear in isolation to amount to an activity that is authorized or organized by USATF or one of its member organizations in breach of the Rules.”

But if, as DBS stated, Houlihan's lawyers have gone to great lengths to determine what's allowed and what's not, you'd think they would have addressed the facilities-use question.

Thank you, Dr. Freud. Now about those dreams I've been having . . .

Every term that's capitalized has a specific definition, sometimes different than what you'd expect, so it's little misleading just to straight quote the words.

This is exactly why athletes like Gabriela are justified in wanting to see official clarification from lawyers and the AIU.

Yes - but your initial statement was:

So she's implying that she can somehow be contaminated by training with a suspended athlete?

So yes, she can be contaminated by training with Shelby. Being on the same track with her is the first step. Weird that the coaches don't even agree to let Shelby leave before the others come.

Putting aside the rulebook interpretations, I'd just ask myself "how would I want my employer to handle this situation?"

Imagine that a coworker of yours is no longer able to fulfill the full duties of their job after running afoul of your industry's accrediting/licensing/governing body for committing acts that are widely viewed as unscrupulous. How do you want your employer to handle the situation? Do you want them to fully support the disgraced employee and only fire them symbolically while letting them hang around the office as a "consultant"? Or do you want your employer to fire the employee, move on from them, and keep moving forward without them?

I'll take the latter every time. Even ignoring the legal/regulatory side of things, you are at very least creating workplace drama by supporting this person and allowing them to hang around. Whether we're talking about a banned athlete or a disbarred attorney or a manager who was fired for being handsy, the right thing to do for your current athletes/employees is to 100% move on from the situation and leave the involved individual in the past.

the thing about Rojo is that he's not very smart

A few observations:
*She loves her former teammates, but kicks them as she goes
out the door, creating chaos as she plays the victim.
*Regarding her victimhood, she intimates that the Shelby
situation significantly impacted her results; I guess robbing her of medals
that are rightfully hers.
*But in fact, she ran incredibly well while with the
BTC. And if you take a look at her 5000m
record run at Boston University, she was towed around the track by one her
aforementioned teammates, never helping with the pace until it suited her, that
being the last lap. Those are the
actions of an opportunist rather than of a good teammate.
While one can understand her concerns regarding compliance with
WADA and AIU rules, why didn’t she reach out on her own for clarification? It appears that she made demands of Jerry and
wasn’t happy with the response, so she attempts to burn down the house as she
exits, but please respect her privacy! Seems to be some hypocrisy here.

I actually don't think Rojo's an idiot tho I am often at odds with his political perspective and views at times. When he's on point tho, he's great. I don't discount his knowledge or contributions to the sport. The Brojos couldn't have done all this without a vision. For that, I give them major cred. I do think he drives up numbers by playing devil's advocate to the hottest debates sometimes. His rants and ludicrous takes are brilliant PR for the site. As a writer and journalist, I know exactly what he is doing. Still, in this situation, it's time to come off the bullsh*t and quit acting for the camera. This is a serious situation the track community wants hard pressure on because the implications are huge.

Agree with this.

BTC’s coaches want to “support” Shelby but at this point, the best way they could do that is by picking up the phone and finding her a more suitable coach.

The situation they’ve created is a walking conflict of interest that places unnecessary burdens on the rest of the squad. Shelby and her coaches come out of this looking selfish, willing to burn their own reputations and those of their teammates to the ground just to stay in shape for a sport she isn’t legally allowed to compete in for several years. It’s ridiculous.

No, I don't think any of these are right at all.

She didn't kick any of her former teammates. Yes, she created some chaos but it was by calling out improper behavior by Jerry/Shalane/BTC management. Long-term, this should be a good thing to get them to stop this foolishness or empower current BTC member to enact some change.

She never said anything about robbing her of medals — you're 100% putting that into her mouth. She said it was big setback and it was a miracle she ran as well as she did. The top 3 were pretty far out there. I'm sure she thinks she could've been closer without what happened, but a medal?

Lose me with this opportunist stuff. Unless she told Elise she was going to take some laps and reneged on that it's a bunch of nonsense. We heard nothing of the sort. It's an indoor track as well and leading really isn't that much of a burden with no wind.

She went through proper channels to try to get the Shelby stuff resolved. She doesn't have to go around her employer and/or be a whistleblower unwittingly with the AIU if it's gray area stuff. When they didn't handle it and rejected very reasonable demands, it was time to cut ties.

I'd note that in her interview DeBues-Stafford used "athletes" in the plural on numerous occasions. It definitely read like she wasn't the only person who had issue with the coaches. She was still complimentary of the group in general, but saved her criticism for Jerry/Shalane's actions exclusively.

The article explicitly said "DeBues-Stafford did not think her impending BTC exit affected her performance in the race" and she is quoted as saying she "did not deliver" in Belgrade, while also complimenting all three medalists. I think Thoughtleader covered Tokyo angle well.

Frerichs and GDS both shared the lead after the other pacer dropped, both hitting more or less US record pace while at the front, before Cranny hit the front and started dropping 33s. That wasn't giving GDS pacing, that was Cranny racing her a$$ off trying to drop GDS because she knew GDS would have the upper hand if it came down to a kick, and Cranny came very close to dropping her, gapping her by over 5m, before she slowed down lapping a runner on the bend allowing Stafford to get back on her.

Okay, think this one through dude. GDS claims she a) still cares for her teammates and b) was genuinely worried BTC were breaking rules. If you care for your teammates, calling the AIU and saying "yeah is this thing a violation?" is the last thing you'd want to do. Imagine if it's a violation, and that ended up triggering an investigation that got people in her group banned lol. Sure being open how she is also increases the risk of an investigation, but that's different to contacting the AIU with specific circumstances that could actually be a violation. Likewise, leaving and saying "no comment" to all these questions after you've just ran #5 all time indoor marks, set records, and come 4th in the world, would just make the public believe she saw Houlihan and Jerry snorting crushed nandrolone on the Hollister trail every week.

Generally, the fact there are still aspects she refused to comment on, e.g. the exact nature of how Shelby is training currently and why it might constitute a violation, makes me think she is still holding back/that the rules have actually been broken. She's been so open and comprehensive yet doesn't comment on arguably the most important detail of them all.

no, he doesn't