wejo wrote:
Shelby had a banned substance and was not able to prove how it got in her system so she served a 4 year drug ban. Meanwhile her coach and teammates nearly universally all rallied behind her and said they didn't think she was doping.
Of course I'm open to the possibility she was, but the cases aren't similar.
I agree fundamentally the cases aren't similar - but this is dependent on how much you want to unpackage them right?
Asbel Kiprops and Regina Jacobs cases also aren't superficially similar but again if you strip everything away it get's down to one thing - intent to knowingly break rules and cheat the system.
I think the one problem here with respect to your comment here that a lot of people are (rightly) disappointed/upset with is not the fact that she "had a banned substance and was not able to prove how it got in her system" (because that's 100% correct and nobody is arguing with that) - it's how the "story" and the interpretation of what that conceptually represents that seems to get lost in translation.
From the moment the salient details about the burrito story began to line up, it was clear to me that this was a bogus story and honestly it should have to most rational people. That wouldn't be unreasonable because as we know now, it appears that even Shelby herself finds it scarcely believable. We really aren't left with many other avenues then are we, other than some kind of supplement or "vitamin" which of course is now what Shelby is trying to direct us (and herself?) towards.
The big question I ask myself then is this - if it did turn out to be "contaminated vitamins", the burrito story and the vehement defense that came with it, really becomes troubling because what did you have to hide with the "vitamins"? Like this wasn't even mentioned from her and her defense and it just seems to be a far easier path to take doesn't it? Like instead of trying to line up 8 different possibilities surrounding the damn burrito - each of them with varying degrees of extremely low feasibility/plausibility, like why not have the "vitamins" also on the table? Like they are right there - they had to be. Okay so even assuming the last one you took was the day before the test and the bottle ended up in Portlands recycling network, you can't remember the name of your vitamin, where you got it from or even what the bottle looked like so that could be looked into?
Because now to me, and I'm going to guess thousands of others, it seems like you are taking this path of most resistance to deliberately be so ambiguous you could weasel out of it. If you own your carelessness with the vitamins, you would have got 2 years and maybe even less because we have seen cases like these where bans are reduced but more importantly, 99% of track and field fans are like "man that was stupid but okay, sh-t happens", and the question of if she was deliberately trying to cheat the system doesn't even reach air traffic control for takeoff. That's not what happened and the only rational reason why you wouldn't even have this out there (vitamins) is because there was something to hide with said "vitamins". I get that we all want to be hyper vigilant and analyze everything to n'th degree and apply the pythagorean theory and quantum physics to everything these days, but sometimes the reality is actually quite straight forward. Even the "I don't even know what the vitamins were anymore" has morphed into "oh just some gummies from Safeway". Come on guys. Come on.
And it is THIS that is missing from the "she was not able to prove how it got in her system, 4 years, case closed" journalistic take and I believe this is what people want to hear Shelby answer and if it's just a "IDK" + shoulder shrug, then that's really not good enough. I do think there could be a lot more pressure applied to this aspect of the story - but that's just my opinion. Maybe I should interview her ;)
