The Railroading of Shelby Houlihan

If it's so easy to test positive, why are more athletes not pissing hot after eating pork? I'm adhering to the Law of Parsimony on this one, which would state that her positive test is a result of doping and not some 1 in million chance that she ate a nandrolone-laced, pig offal burrito, that was not even the right burrito, due a farmer not castrating their pigs correctly, CONVENIENTLY the day before she had a drug test. Unless there is an investigation into the food truck she ordered from that reveals that their food sources contain nandrolone, I'm adhering to the law of parsimony.

Again, if nandralone is commonly in our pork products as you say it is, athletes would be pissing hot left and right.

She had a suspicious progression and ran a 1423 5k. This is enough evidence. A positive test that she claims is faulty? HAHAHAHAHA GOOD ONE

Come on, go shill elsewhere.

Caught-->Banned-->Appealed-->Denied by CAS.

End of story. Move on.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

If the Pork Offal/nandrolone theory was so strong why when her team sent a PI were they unable to verify it with hard evidence?

It would have been very difficult to locate the entrails of a pig consumed 5 weeks prior, and even if Greene's team had been lucky enough to later find the food truck serving uncastrated male pig and had the technical means to test it, it wouldn't have proven anything. It would have been helpful to know the food truck's supplier, however, it is quite possible their source of meat varies from day to day, or goes through a 3rd party, and that they would recognize it is not at all in their interest to cooperate with private investigators on this matter. In a court of law, subpoenas and the discovery process might be used to ascertain some of this information, but (someone correct me if I'm wrong), no such power would have been available, and they would have to rely only on whatever information the food truck is willing to volunteer.

For the sake of the food truck's business, I want to reiterate that boar meat will often naturally contain nandrolone, and that it is perfectly healthy and safe to eat (unless you're a world-class athlete). In fact, if the truck did serve such meat, it was likely to have been from a local non-factory farm source, and is a sign that the food is of a higher quality than what might be available elsewhere.

Listen. An innocent person would have released the biological passport instantly to show how this was an anomaly. She could also release her TUEs and any other data around drug compliance. She didn’t. Instead, to get in front of this she chose a lie detector and hair sample (two items that hardly can be used as reliable data). So what’s lurking in her passport and TUEs?

The Nike Androgen Project wrote:

I assume that you are aware that the case is over, as is the appeal, so you are attempting to clarify points from a failed defense before an impartial body. The fact that she has fans and coaches who thinks that it should have gone differently is immaterial.

The best response would be for the women finalists in the 1500 to boycott the race at the Olympics and then hold a private race with Shelby at a later date.

moultonk wrote:

The best response would be for the women finalists in the 1500 to boycott the race at the Olympics and then hold a private race with Shelby at a later date.

That seems rational and fair.

moultonk wrote:

It would have been very difficult to locate the entrails of a pig consumed 5 weeks prior, and even if Greene's team had been lucky enough to later find the food truck serving uncastrated male pig and had the technical means to test it, it wouldn't have proven anything. It would have been helpful to know the food truck's supplier, however, it is quite possible their source of meat varies from day to day, or goes through a 3rd party, and that they would recognize it is not at all in their interest to cooperate with private investigators on this matter.

It would have proven that the food truck's pork meat could've been the source of the Nandrolone. You're giving them the benefit of the doubt in so many ways. They didn't say anything like the food truck was uncooperative or we couldn't ascertain where the meat came from.

You're left with a few options:

1) It was a superficial investigation of the meat/food truck because there's no there there (this pork offal rationale is an excuse made after-the-fact)

2) An investigation was fruitless (e.g. any tests of the meat/investigation of the sourcing didn't support Team Shelby's theory beyond the greasy factor)

3) The Food Truck was completely uncooperative (seems odd they wouldn't be transparent about this)

You seem to lean no. 3 when it would be pretty easy for a well-supported legal team to really push the Food Truck to cooperate. The could transparently let them know there would be no negative consequences and they'd remain anonymous (redacted) in anything provided to CAS. Also, Team Shelby has not given us any details about the meat sourcing. So you're taking several leaps when 1 and 2 seem much more plausible and they could just say for #3 that they tried and failed as opposed to an obviously lacking "it was greasy and they serve these types of pigs" excuse.

moultonk wrote:

once I got started down the path into porcine husbandry, it was hard to stop.

Is this the opening line to moultonk's memoire: "The Pig Sty: How I started Down the Path of Porcine Bestiality"

[

But this one is far from over

Nah its over.

She is not running in Tokyo

moultonk wrote:

The Nike Androgen Project wrote:

I assume that you are aware that the case is over, as is the appeal, so you are attempting to clarify points from a failed defense before an impartial body. The fact that she has fans and coaches who thinks that it should have gone differently is immaterial.

The best response would be for the women finalists in the 1500 to boycott the race at the Olympics and then hold a private race with Shelby at a later date.

If her teammates are also doping they should for sure do this.

Joe Mama wrote:

Listen. An innocent person would have released the biological passport instantly to show how this was an anomaly. She could also release her TUEs and any other data around drug compliance. She didn’t. Instead, to get in front of this she chose a lie detector and hair sample (two items that hardly can be used as reliable data). So what’s lurking in her passport and TUEs?

My understanding is that the AIU folks would have access to her Biological Passport and any TUEs, no? I don't see that the court of public opinion really matters to her at this stage. The lie detector and hair tests were done to help bolster her case with the authorities, not as a public relations exercise.

I can only assume AUI has full access, as well. But she put out videos to draw public support, and her teammates have been begging everyone to believe her. I am just pointing out a very critical piece to drawing support would be to grant unfettered access to her testing history, prior appeals, TUEs, etc. If this was the first instance of anything like deca showing up in a test, she would have said that. It’s a natural defense and lends credence to the burrito theory.

+1

It is preposterous to think Nike could not have induced the cooperation of the food truck workers, owners. If there was any exculpatory evidence to be had, we would have it. It's really not that hard to figure out the chain of custody of the meat served on the night in question and at least do some testing of meat from the same source to demonstrate the presence of nandrolone. This would still beg the question of whether or not SH consumed this meat, but it would have been a very valuable part of her defense. They either tried this and failed to find any nandrolone + meat, or they did not bother because they know the source, pharmaceutical nandrolone.

moultonk wrote:

The best response would be for the women finalists in the 1500 to boycott the race at the Olympics and then hold a private race with Shelby at a later date.

Why would the people she's been cheating out of prize money want to give her the stage to try to demonstrate that steroids work?

That’s a lot of work you put in while not really looking birds-eye at this. She tested positive (both samples); twice she was not able to prove innocence (which would have been “easy” given your points, if they were true); her team is focused on the emotional fallout, not factual evidence that supports her ridiculous claims; she has suspicious improvements in times; she was tested 20-ish times this year, suggesting suspicions. The next closest was Emma Coburn, who was participating in a testing program of some sorts.

Its incredible to me how far people will go to curb their disappointment and avoid the facts of the case. It shows a lack of emotional maturity to simply say “it’s disappointing that she tested positive and it changes the narrative I’ve had in my mind of who she (and American runners in general) is as a person AND athlete.” Nobody likes to be duped, nobody likes to be let down by someone they think they know. Shelby’s job was running, plain and simple. And the attempts of her team to highlight exceptional character that COULD NEVER do such a thing misses the point—we ALL do things we know aren’t virtuous from time to time. To imply that Shelby is incapable of a mistake, premeditated or not, shows her guilt even more. It would have been more believable had they highlighted some of her issues and how she has corrected them/showed accountability versus saying she could never/would never dope.

Your assumptions are laughable. The amazing number of impossible steps that need to have occurred is ridiculous. Here is one step that is well known: athletes dope. Guess what, that includes athletes you like.

Your post hammered home, endlessly with its non stop stupidity, how crazy guilty she is. Thanks for that.

moultonk wrote:

There is no doubt Houlihan purchased food from a Mexican food truck 10 hours before she was randomly tested because there are records which prove it. For it NOT to be the source of the nandrolone would be an extraordinary coincidence, and could only be explained by hypothesizing she visited the truck deliberately in order to consume nandrolone orally and have a ready-made excuse in case she was tested.