I'll take a stab at this.
My views about doping changed significantly after Shelby was busted. I am also really really frustrated with running media choosing by and large to give Shelby a pass.
There's no doubt there are cheaters in running, and I almost feel like when you are on the inside of the sport you might view doping the same way a lot of viewed drinking in high school--all the cool kids are doing it. But when you get busted, you're in BIG trouble.
For me, I look for outliers.
Who is doing something that *no one else* appears to be able to do?
And I'm not talking about setting a world record. I'm talking about behavior.
Shelby won the US cross-country championships in 2019. Then she was the *only athlete* to turn around and compete at the 2019 indoor championships where she won the two mile and placed second in the mile to a much better rested CQ. It was impressive, and Shelby waxed poetic about "just loving to race!" but now I look back at that differently. How in a whole host of pro athletes, was Shelby the only person capable of running both championships and competing both at an extremely high level?
Sifan Hassan? Enough said. Trust me if more world class women could do what she did at the 2021 Olympics, they would.
50 women have broken the 2:20 barrier, just 50 in the whole world and in all of time. Of that fifty, just five of them were over the age of 35. of the five, four of them had significant pro careers in their 20s--Keira did not. Only Irina Mikitenko, a former USSR native and German runner took a significant break from to have a child.
There's no doubt that within those 50 women, there are drug cheats. And some of those drug cheats probably broke 2:20 in the prime of their careers. So when you consider that, it's hard not to be skeptical that a mom of 2, represented by Nike--which has a reputation, in her mid- late thirties, suddenly had a renaissance and achieved something in the sport only 50 women who trained really really hard all their careers did. Keep in mind that at the age of 32, Keira ran 3:14.
I don't have animosity towards Keira, and if she's clean then great, I'd love to be wrong! But just as you seem to believe that skepticism comes from bias, I believe that blind faith comes from bias too. Who are you more likely to believe? Why? Do they represent a school, country, brand, you like? Are they the right ethnicity? nationality? Running media acting like all Keira D'Amato is, is a feel good story is frustrating. I'm not saying that they should outright accuse her of doping, but a little restraint sometimes help instead of fawning all over her. We went through this with Lance, who was a major outlier. Let's learn something this time.