Will Shelby Houlihan return?

Keira D’amato took years off from running and worked her way back into it. Women have children and return to racing at a high level post-partum. If Shelby has been staying in shape the last 3 years and the TTs she’s been doing are accurate, I don’t know why she would fall off this year/not be motivated to get in that kind of shape again. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for her after this summer, and barring injury, she’ll be competitive with the us women in the 5/10k.

Plus - her strava is public so we can kinda have an idea of the form she is in by summer time. I assume she’ll take a break mid to late summer and start building early fall.

Guarantee she’ll be at the first BU meet post-ban expiration to get a standard for Tokyo 2025. I could also see her going to indoor USAs to try and qualify for indoor worlds in China just to get some international competition in.

I hope not, she is a cheater and does not deserve another chance

Also want to make it clear, I’m not rooting for Shelby to make these teams - but realistically, the USA women are weak on the world stage in the long distance track events and if she is even is just sub-14:40 shape (20secs off her pr), she doesn’t have that much competition to make a team (unless someone has a breakthrough or Karissa gets back to old Karissa).

i keep finding myself wanting to root for her even though i know the above is accurate. seriously, the burrito wasn't tainted. its a ridiculous story. she's guilty. she cheated hard working, clean runners out of a chance, out of a spot.

she may be hard working herself, but it does not excuse taking the step to cheat.

You must be fun at parties

It’s bs. You better make fun of her while you can. She’ll come back and kick ***. wait till you have a bad moment. A tainted burrito can happen to anyone of you making fun of her. Be kind!

Shouldn't we remember that WADA permits banned athletes to return to competition once they have served their ban?

One possible cure for this hypocrisy is to equally doubt nandrolone violations outside of white smiley America. Did you know that in Kenya, farmers do not routinely castrate their pigs? Did you know that Kenyans cannot usually afford a six-figure defense, against an aggressive AIU with a friendly CAS Panel? The AIU's expert arguments would fail in these countries.

At what point did the masses start believing that distance runners would orally ingest small but detectable quantities of nandrolone, given that steroids were never widely believed to help distance athletes, and at least one study on orally ingested steroids found no performance, endurance, or recovery benefits of orally ingesting such steroids?

At what point did the masses start believing that Nike-sponsored athletes from it's top American team, once NOP was disbanded, would make such a rookie mistake as to take one of the most easily detectable drugs there is, catching many athletes since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, after infamous experts like Victor Conte has been telling athletes ever since to avoid?

Are you serious? "A tainted burrito could happen to anyone?" The chances of her being clean are not in doubt. She cheated and got caught. I do not want to see her again.

I’m of the mindset that there exists a possibility that Houlihan was not doping.

I am also of the mindset that Houlihan tested positive for doping, failed to produce any worthy evidence demonstrating she was clean, and deserving of her ban.

I don’t love the idea that banned athletes get to compete again but if we had a generation of Gatlin, then we will have to put up with Houlihan’s return. Those are the rules in this sport.

What I don't understand is all the hate towards Shelby. It is common belief that all the top elites are doping in some fashion. Particularly on LC. Certainly it is believed the East Africans are. So if Shelby felt she had to do likewise in order to keep up with the best of the best, isn't she doing what everybody else does?

I am not excusing doping. I am vehemently against it. But it is like were picking on somebody who happened to get caught. And that case is still very complex. So she paid her price and I am not going to pull my hair out if so goes back to doing what she does best and tries for redemption.

Some people think bans should be lifetime. Well if so, fine but not just for one person.

(betcha I get a lot of downvotes since I am not hating on Shelby. Not that I approve.)

Can you explain to me why you are of the mindset that there exists a possibility that Houlihan is not doping? I find that curious since I your next sentence you acknowledged she failed to produce evidence demonstrating she was clean.

Can you elaborate on this mindset? I ask sincerely. What leads you to believing in this possibility? Do you believe this of everyone who is caught?

Let me help you understand.

Shelby didn't just get caught doping. She got caught doping and then persistently lied about her innocence. She even set up a gofundme scamming the people out of money while she didn't have a job.

She then did like a thousand podcasts and interviews lamenting about how she was a victim. All while following her old team around training with them and making athletes there feel uncomfortable.

There has never been a doper that has been this public during their ban. Never one that has received so much sympathy and leniency.

You say you are not excusing doping. But re-read your post, that is exactly what you are doing. You are calling it necessary to keep up with the "best of the best". What's the big deal right?

Shelby's doping didn't just have her keeping up with the best of the best. It had her winning titles and setting records. She WAS the best of the best. No one in the US could keep up with her. There's a difference between doping to play and doping to WIN. Shelby was doping to win.

Looks like she will return and do well.

Free Shelby

Less than a year baby.

Drug cheats out!

Unfortunately even that drifter cheater will come back, but I won't have to and will not like it.

She got caught. She was banmed and titles were taken away for the time that she was doping. She has been clean since. There is no penalty for not admitting it. You seem more concerned about the wrong things. She is serving her time.

You need to show some respect to her. A burrito was tainted. Let’s see you match her times. You probably were on real steroids and are projecting.

You know this is actually a great point. She had a great crossroads scenario to deal with...

1) Own what happened from the get-go without concocting the laughable "jumbo sized carnitas burrito that turned out to be boar offal that she ate anyway which then unfortunately happened to come from imported meat bred on steroids that put her more than twice the maximum acceptable limit" story and while she would have been killed in the court of public opinion, America is also (weirdly) the most forgiving society on the planet when it comes to sports "stars" so she would have come back a-la Gatlin and been able to try for Paris and most people would just be like "well she did the time and deserves a second chance".

2) Hold steadfast on her story and maintain no wrongdoing, but miss Paris and I agree with you, probably have a season or two at best in the twilight (again at best) of her career.

Honestly she's stupid for taking option 2. She basically did a year longer than she needed to because her maintaining her position really changed the mind of nobody.

Nope. She kept all titles and records.

And nope. We don't know whether or not she stopped doping.

She should be jailed for her gofundme grifting.

Clearly the cheating made her rich and famous. At least here most people are opposed to such drug cheats.