How do people still believe Shelby Houlihan cheated?

I think the two main things in this situation are

1. She has served her ban already. Whether she cheated or not, as long as she's clean now. She deserves a second chance. So, even if she did cheat, the OMG! SHE CHEATING! I'M FOAMING AT THE MOUTH!!1 i'm hOlier ThAn Thou GIMME A RABIES SHOT AHHHHH!! crowd needs to let it go bc even if she did, she's not gonna admit it. And she owes YOU nothing.

2. However unlikely it's STILL possible that the substance got in her system without her knowing it (e.g., cross contamination with other sports or dietary supplements due to poor regulation).

What you think is possible is irrelevant. What a court decided was probable was that she doped. In a court and in science, probability beats mere conjecture without evidence.

A second chance means she gets to compete again; it doesn't mean she restores her reputation.

So you include her amongst the liars. That's progress.

Her reputation never changed. You never liked her. I always liked her.

Except no one on this board ever gave Gatlin a second chance. I wonder why.

shes clean

People still believe Shelby Houlihan cheated because of the strict anti-doping protocols in place and the positive test result for nandrolone—a banned substance. Despite her defense that the result came from contaminated pork, many are skeptical because anti-doping agencies rarely accept food contamination as a valid excuse without extremely compelling evidence. Public trust in elite athletes is fragile, and once a doping allegation is made, it's hard to reverse the damage in the court of public opinion.

If you're trying to learn more about cases like Houlihan’s or want to explore how public perception is shaped in high-profile sports controversies, you can presentations that analyze media bias, athlete reputation, and anti-doping policies. These resources often provide valuable context on why such allegations stick, even when the athlete maintains their innocence.

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Her reputation as a clean athlete has been lost forever. That you personally like her has nothing to do with that.

Clearly that is the case among some fans and armchair pundits in the court of public opinion. The question remains whether athletes deserve that reputation for failing to find sufficient evidence required to persuade a panel of the source of the banned substance, when the facts ambiguously allow for both doping and non-doping scenarios.

Putting aside the opinions of fans and bloggers with no skin in the game, I wonder what her competitors think of her reputation. I have yet to see any competitor to date condemn her for her "anti-doping rule violation", and since her return, it seems she has been pretty well received so far, without any hostility.

Because her competitors know how common doping is. That's my theory anyways.

I don't know for sure what happened in the end of 2020, but I bet she is tested a lot now. Is there a way to see how much the AIU tests individual athletes?

Yes to the first. As proven by all the other dopers, who rarely get reprimanded by their competition. Houlihan in particular was at that time not beating anyone out of any international medals, so it would have to be an American complaining. Rekrunner is deflecting as is his routine.

Rekrunner of course is also downplaying the facts (also his routine). E.g. it may be theoretically that "the facts ambiguously allow" that she didn't dope on purpose ("so there is a chance"), but it's so extremely unlikely as discussed a million times here and elsewhere.

More to the point, all independent experts consulted on this matter have disregarded the burrito excuse, the only one she officially made.

No, the AIU keeps their stats about individual athletes secret, like most NADOs actually.

As discussed in her comeback thread, USADA suddenly decreased testing her after 2022, from 18 tests in 2022 down to 8 in 2023 and 7 in 2024, and didn't test her at all between September 2024 and January 2025. Now she stands at 7 USADA tests total in 2025.

She was - for undisclosed reasons - one of USADA's most (if not the most tested) athletes between 2018 and 2022, with 12 - 19 tests per year. Compare that to the globally more successful Frerichs from the same team with 5 - 12 tests per year at that time period. Not too surprising then that Houlihan slipped once...

Need to boost them numbers back up 📈

Anyone can have a theory about what her competitors know. But me or you guessing what her competitors know is pure speculation, isn't it? I think no one knows how common, or uncommon, doping is -- including the athletes -- especially clean athletes. Maybe her competitors don't find the doping scenario all that credible or likely in Houlihan's case, unlike some vocal fans, and know from the experiences of many athletes that the same thing could happen to them, unknowingly through some meal or vitamin/supplement or prescribed medication, despite their best diligence.

Organizations like the AIU and USADA use intelligence to optimize their anti-doping resources, directing testing to where intelligence says it will be most effective. If we want to think that frequent testing is a sign of suspicion, then decreased testing is also a sign of decreased suspicion, right?