The most obvious explanation is they believe Shelby didn't intentionally dope.
End of discussion. They and her have never wavered in that belief. I applaud loyalty.
A more likely explanation is that Japan didn't want Shelby and ShaCarri in their Olympics because tatoos are against their culture so they were 'taken care of'.
People are allowed to be friends with whomever they choose to be. If it was a training camp getaway KS organized and invited a few fellow runners to join her on, yeah, it would look fishy AF to have SH there.
Anyone who was all about Justin Gatlin being the face of USATF after coming back from a doping ban but has issues with Shelby being on the verge of returning to competition needs to simmer down a bit. She'll never escape criticism for being on a starting line nor suspicion of any results she posts when she comes back, but if she serves the time of the ban and becomes eligible those are the rules.
My hope is that USATF and/or USADA will do a full panel on her and compare her biological passport PRIOR to returning to competition to ensure that where's starting is on par with where her levels have traditionally been...four years is a long time out of the spotlight and, again if she's going to be met with tons of suspicion just for existing in the world of track and field for the rest of her career hopefully the governing bodies can see that she didn't spend chunks of the time of her ban using banned substances.
The most obvious explanation is they believe Shelby didn't intentionally dope.
End of discussion. They and her have never wavered in that belief. I applaud loyalty.
I want to respect this kind of loyalty, but it appears to be so selective as to be self-serving. Let's suppose you were Houlihan's teammate and feel like you know her so well you believe her 100%. The whole thing was some kind of frame job or tragic accident or, at worst, a contaminated legal supplement.
What would that say about other doping cases? Almost all athletes who test positive deny doping. And Houlihan's proposed explanation was about as unlikely as they get, so much so that she essentially retracted it after the CAS case was over. If after all that you think Houlihan is innocent, wouldn't that suggest that many, many other positive tests are similarly flawed? Several of the athletes who support Houlihan have spoken out against non-US athletes who have been caught doping. If you no longer think that these athletes conclusively doped, wouldn't you want to speak out to correct the record? Wouldn't you want to say something about the anti-doping system in general, since it continues to catch athletes who (in your opinion) may be totally clean? You or your teammates could be next, so this isn't merely altruistic.
For sure, there's a natural temptation to treat an American doping positive differently from a Kenyan doping positive. In-group, out-group, tribalism stuff. But best I can tell, EVERYONE who cares about resolving this inconsistency has updated in the direction of believing the testing and disbelieving Houlihan. NOT A SINGLE elite athlete or coach that I know of has used their support of Houlihan to segue into a broader defense of athletes caught doping. We might strongly disagree with such a defense, but it would be hard not to respect the intentions of the person making the argument. As it is, defenses of Houlihan are always unwilling to take that extra step and so read to me as the age-old tribalistic argument that bad things are ok when "our side" does it.
People are allowed to be friends with whomever they choose to be. If it was a training camp getaway KS organized and invited a few fellow runners to join her on, yeah, it would look fishy AF to have SH there.
Anyone who was all about Justin Gatlin being the face of USATF after coming back from a doping ban but has issues with Shelby being on the verge of returning to competition needs to simmer down a bit. She'll never escape criticism for being on a starting line nor suspicion of any results she posts when she comes back, but if she serves the time of the ban and becomes eligible those are the rules.
My hope is that USATF and/or USADA will do a full panel on her and compare her biological passport PRIOR to returning to competition to ensure that where's starting is on par with where her levels have traditionally been...four years is a long time out of the spotlight and, again if she's going to be met with tons of suspicion just for existing in the world of track and field for the rest of her career hopefully the governing bodies can see that she didn't spend chunks of the time of her ban using banned substances.
Most people did not want to see Justin Gatlin as the face of Track & Field after his doping conviction and even fewer people believe he was cleanly able to run faster in his mid 30s than he was in his 20s when he was doping. Never mind that his coaches were Trevor Graham and Dennis Mitchell. If Shelburrito returns and breaks her old records in her mid-30s, I will have the same disbelief as I did with Gatlin.
The most obvious explanation is they believe Shelby didn't intentionally dope.
End of discussion. They and her have never wavered in that belief. I applaud loyalty.
Several of the athletes who support Houlihan have spoken out against non-US athletes who have been caught doping. If you no longer think that these athletes conclusively doped, wouldn't you want to speak out to correct the record? Wouldn't you want to say something about the anti-doping system in general, since it continues to catch athletes who (in your opinion) may be totally clean? You or your teammates could be next, so this isn't merely altruistic.
And ironically, none of them seem too worried about partaking in that dreaded "authentic Mexican" food while they are down there. If they believed it was so easy for her to test positive from food, you would think they would be much more careful and speak up about the issue.
Shelby's story is BS and everyone knows it; the fact that Wejo buys into it only bolsters what we already knew about his bias towards Shelby and all those that look like her.
End of discussion my a$$, this is only the beginning since she will be returning to the track in a few months. This conversation will continue!
And ironically, none of them seem too worried about partaking in that dreaded "authentic Mexican" food while they are down there. If they believed it was so easy for her to test positive from food, you would think they would be much more careful and speak up about the issue.
Exactly. The actions of the people defending Houlihan are not consistent with suddenly being made aware of a major flaw in the anti-doping system. People are complicated and life is hard and I don't want to be too harsh on anyone muddling through, as we all are.
But to believe Houlihan in any real sense requires a deep questioning of the entire system, and that's why I at least will continue to be very skeptical of anyone defending her without taking ownership of those implications.
Two things ought to happen now that the Court of Arbitration for Sport has issued a technically detailed but, in the end, common-sense ruling in the matter of Shelby Houlihan, the American distance runner, banning her for fou...
Did her time. Let it go. Find something positive to spend your time doing rather than perseverating on some individual that you've never met, spent time with, or quite possibly have never seen person. Acting like she wronged you personally just starts to get a bit strange.
Yes and No.
Yes, she's finishing up her ban.
No, you just don't "Let it go".
I agree that spending time on this now is useless and serves no reason, but when she re-emerges from her ban, and toes the line somewhere she will ALWAYS be labeled as a cheater...PERIOD! In the world of sport, it's a cardinal sin and should NEVER be forgiven. I know it's a hardcore way of looking at it, but the sport itself is hardcore and a lot of runners work really hard to achieve minimal success without taking shortcuts. Is she a "bad" person, probably not but we're not talking about her as a person, we're talking about her as runner.
That being said, I'd be up for rippin' a few margaritas with her in Mexico, just don't talk about running!
The most obvious explanation is they believe Shelby didn't intentionally dope.
End of discussion. They and her have never wavered in that belief. I applaud loyalty.
There is loyalty and there is wilful blindness. Since CAS ruled out accidental contamination what is left but intentional doping?
Maybe the other athletes are Shelby's friends. Maybe they even think she doped, and that that was the wrong thing to do, but they don't see that as a reason to stop being her friends.
And ironically, none of them seem too worried about partaking in that dreaded "authentic Mexican" food while they are down there. If they believed it was so easy for her to test positive from food, you would think they would be much more careful and speak up about the issue.
Exactly. The actions of the people defending Houlihan are not consistent with suddenly being made aware of a major flaw in the anti-doping system. People are complicated and life is hard and I don't want to be too harsh on anyone muddling through, as we all are.
But to believe Houlihan in any real sense requires a deep questioning of the entire system, and that's why I at least will continue to be very skeptical of anyone defending her without taking ownership of those implications.
I wonder how many burrito jokes they made when they were there.
Several of the athletes who support Houlihan have spoken out against non-US athletes who have been caught doping. If you no longer think that these athletes conclusively doped, wouldn't you want to speak out to correct the record? Wouldn't you want to say something about the anti-doping system in general, since it continues to catch athletes who (in your opinion) may be totally clean? You or your teammates could be next, so this isn't merely altruistic.
And ironically, none of them seem too worried about partaking in that dreaded "authentic Mexican" food while they are down there. If they believed it was so easy for her to test positive from food, you would think they would be much more careful and speak up about the issue.
Shelby's story is BS and everyone knows it; the fact that Wejo buys into it only bolsters what we already knew about his bias towards Shelby and all those that look like her.
End of discussion my a$, this is only the beginning since she will be returning to the track in a few months. This conversation will continue!
Seriously, the jokes write themselves. I'm surprised no one mentioned it sooner.
This is why athletes hate Letsrun. Idiots that can’t even spell the word disappointing trying to create needless drama over what people are choosing to do the only two weeks of the year when they are spending their time doing something other than running.
A little Mexican Vacay for the dopers, how cute! An adjudicated doper and they still hang with her; how sad. If this was a Kenyan or Ethiopian they would be complaining, but because it's a white girl they all believe the BS. I used the like Karissa, now she goes on the sh!t list too because now one must assume that she was also doping. This is not a good look IMHO.
instagram is so, so weird. it's like a narcissism training device. when you don't use it, then you see posts like this, the oddness of it all really hits
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