You have to respect GDS' decision. She has clearly thought this through and is doing what she believes is best for her well being and athletic career. I'm sure she wasn't thrilled about having to pack up and move 3 months before a major championship. Not an ideal situation to switch boats mid stream, and I don't necessarily agree with it from an athletic point of view, nonetheless she seems happy and confident with the decision and that's all that really matters.
With regard to BTC and Jerry, both need to be very careful as to not disrupt the chemistry of the group, especially on the women's side. The handling of SH needs to be done very carefully and with full transparency. Each BTC athlete should be well informed as to SH's relationship with the club and Jerry, and I'm sure there has been many discussions explaining as much.
Good luck GDS!
Yeah, I suspect the lack of transparency as to Houlihan's status with BTC and Schumacher's continued coaching of her did not sit well with GDS.
A reasonable person could conclude this but on the opposite spectrum if an athlete you have coached for over 5 years gets handed a ban and you unequivocally believe their innocence wouldn't you go to great lengths to support them?
Again whether he should or shouldn't believe the merits of her defense is a different discussion. It is abundantly clear he believes her and thinks she's been unfairly tarnished and stripped of her career.
without a doubt that professionally prudent decision for coaches and athletes would be to disassociate completely but in some ways I can respect his loyalty to her.
Saying you believe her innocence and then cutting her off I think would send the message that you are offering lip service and but have doubts about her.
You can avoid cutting her off by simply making the prudent adjustment of sending her workouts and coaching her in a remote fashion (and in-person when you do have the bandwidth). There should be no overlap with athletes in good standing that could jeopardize their eligibility and provide bad optics. That means they are not in the same place at the same time. Someone rationalized this by saying Jerry/Shalane doesn't want to be away from his family. Well you know what: Shelby is in her late-20s and a professional who doesn't need to be babysat. Send her the workouts, trust her to do them and talk to her on the phone.
Just to be clear, I didn’t raise the “Jerry has a family” point because I agree with it. I just think that’s how BTC’s coaches might be rationalizing it to themselves.
I agree with you — there’s no legitimate reason why they couldn’t accommodate a complete separation with the team. Honestly, I wouldn’t be comfortable with that arrangement, but it sounds like Gabriela may have been. I think it’s pretty simple — BTC’s coaches can coach the BTC or they can coach an athlete serving a doping ban, but they shouldn’t be doing both.
Considering how much of a scandal you made it out to be that Mark Block was at the 2012 Olympic Trials, your nonchalant attitude to this is incredibly hypocritical.
Letsrun.com regarding Mark Block watching the Olympic Trials while serving doping ban wrote:
To be truthful, we hope this report raises everyone's ire and we plan on trying at a minimum to hold the feet of Nike and USATF and its new head Max Siegel to the fire until everyone pledges these type of actions won't be tolerated in the future. But many in the sport also deserve scorn. Why haven't other coaches, agents, athletes, and sponsors who've seen Block hanging around said something before now?
If you are as outraged as we are by this development, then get active and help raise awareness via email, twitter, facebook, etc.
I don't understand why people think I'm doing backflips for Jerry. I made a goddman Burrito Track Club shirt.
Yet, you - Mr. Anti-Doping - are giving those proceeds to the convicted doper.
You have to be either purposely ignorant or just brain dead if you don’t see the contrast between your treatment of Shelby/Jerry to others (NOP/Dibaba/Makdaddy).
YOU HAD A RUNNING CLOCK ON THE HOMEPAGE WAITING FOR SALAZAR TO RESPOND.
The funny thing is, we have scientific proof and a four year ban for Shelby, but not the other athletes…
You’re unbelievably bias and there’s no way around it.
A reasonable person could conclude this but on the opposite spectrum if an athlete you have coached for over 5 years gets handed a ban and you unequivocally believe their innocence wouldn't you go to great lengths to support them?
Again whether he should or shouldn't believe the merits of her defense is a different discussion. It is abundantly clear he believes her and thinks she's been unfairly tarnished and stripped of her career.
without a doubt that professionally prudent decision for coaches and athletes would be to disassociate completely but in some ways I can respect his loyalty to her.
Saying you believe her innocence and then cutting her off I think would send the message that you are offering lip service and but have doubts about her.
You can avoid cutting her off by simply making the prudent adjustment of sending her workouts and coaching her in a remote fashion (and in-person when you do have the bandwidth). There should be no overlap with athletes in good standing that could jeopardize their eligibility and provide bad optics. That means they are not in the same place at the same time. Someone rationalized this by saying Jerry/Shalane doesn't want to be away from his family. Well you know what: Shelby is in her late-20s and a professional who doesn't need to be babysat. Send her the workouts, trust her to do them and talk to her on the phone.
There is nothing that will jeopardise their eligibility.
For what it’s worth, the Court of Arbitration for Sport decision addressed this question. They adjusted her “period of ineligibility” to “commence on 11 June 2021 (i.e. the date of issuance of the Operational Part of the Award)”.
Basically, BTC isn’t at risk of having committed a violation by training with Shelby Houlihan before the CAS decision came down.
In this case, the sample collection was made on 15 December 2021, and according to the AIU, the Athlete was provisionally suspended on 14 January 2021. It follows therefore, that the Athlete should receive ‘credit’ for the period of ineligibility already served without any interruption. Accordingly, the start of the Athlete’s period of ineligibility shall be fixed on 14 January 2021.
And the last page:
The Court of Arbitration for Sport rules that: ...
3. Shelby Houlihan is subject to a period of ineligibility of four (4) years starting on 14 January 2021.
Canadian middle-distance runner Gabriela DeBues-Stafford has moved to Victoria to train, citing stress around the doping ban of her former Portland training partner Shelby Houlihan.
Shalene Flanagan in 2017 talking about Galen Rupp, "There’s still an investigation going on, so it’s hard to truly and genuinely get excited about the performances that i'm watching."
I wonder what Houlihan, and others around her, goes through their head to think she can keep running around her house for 4 years and still bring anything relevant later.
Delusional.
Good move from this young lady to get out. Nothing good is coming from BTC in the future
The simplest explanation is that Schumacher and Flanagan have families and therefore don’t want to be effectively doubling their time at practice to accommodate Shelby.
Cry me a river, you know?
Most of this country spends 8 hours a day five days a week away from their families due to work commitments. That they can't handle another 4-6 hours per week to accommodate separate Houlihan workouts would just highlight how out of touch they are.
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.
Where in the rules does it say that an *athlete* training with a suspended athlete would be in violation and therefore punished?
The way BTC trashed their reputations to cater to Shelby will never not be such a massive disappointment. So unexpected, given the (then) apparent pedigree of athletes and coaches that were there, and so so disappointing.
All that clean sport anti doping talk from BTC from running media, it was all smoke and mirrors. They wanted to clear the podium for their faves--usually white, always American, always fun! loving! and just! like! them! Those pesky Africans, Russians and meanies over at NOP just got in the way so they had to piss on them for doping to get them out. It was never about integrity.
The years Shalane spent talking tough about Elvan, about Rita Jeptoo, about Jemima. All BS. Her laughing about how she and her family agreed she was the silver medalist at the Olympics long before Elvan's medal was taken from her. Now she's coaching Shelby and acting like a victim? Please. She didn't give a crap about Elvan's feelings, or Rita or Jemima when she (rightfully) trashed them. But we're calling out hypocrisy and she's whining about drama?
The sheer entitlement she has and Shelby has is sickening. It's genuinely hard to fathom. How can you not see how hypocritical you're being, and all the ways she is just like those women who stole so much from her who she complained about so much throughout her career.
More than anyone, more than Shelby, more than Jerry--Shalane is the most disappointing in all this. She talked the toughest about dopers. She also brought US distance running back from the abyss. Her career meant so much to so many. Now she's throwing her rep to the wolves. All for Shelby. It makes no sense, unless you believe a lot of the letsrun theorists, about the blackmail...
Page deleted. Nice, Johnson bros. Real champions of transparency and clean sport.
Brojos be warned.
The only reason people put up with your site is because you are by far the most transparent and fair, even when your opinions don't always reflect that. You let people talk and muse and tell the truth. We put up with the abuse or amateur runners, the vitriol all of it when we shouldn't. Deleting threads about dopers now? Watch this site go under in a second.
