Malcolm Gladwell: Why Was the Decision in Shelby Houlihan’s Doping Case So Unsatisfying?

It may be unsatisfactory because there are some assumptions that the hearing is investigatory. It is not.

The rules are contorted with the new concept of deemed intent raising its head in a way that it would not for Stromba.

So; yes the food possible explanation is in tatters, the idea that someone on whereabouts and competition tests would go remotely near Nandrolone does not stack up.

If a doper then we would have found stuff like the GB relay team member was using or growth but with granddaughter metabolites being caught months afterwards then not Nandrolone.

What then remains; other food; supplements, or even sabotage?

Who really knows or indeed who ever will know.

Irrelevant. The fact is nandrolone was in her system without reason. The excuse given was so far fetched it almost proved guilt. Numerous other athletes have been busted with the same steroid.

It's just irrelevant just like a drink driving conviction. It's not the authorities job to assess an athletes stupidity. Of course being American gives her a pass on here.

Still waiting on the article which explains why she would be eating greasy food sans gallbladder? Or what she specifically meant by "authentic" when referring to the burrito.

Strange that you'd think she got it from Centro via sex since she is the one performing so well. Many posters here believe Centro is average and was just lucky to even win Rio Olympics.

* Even though numerous posters over the past couple months have stated it is foolish to take Nandrolone since one will test positive easily while taking it and some posters have stated the limits of enhanced performance associated with Nandrolone, it has been stated numerous times on this thread, body builders and weight lifters two months ago stated Nandrolone is excellent for healing joints. My ankles hurt now as I type. I sure would run faster if I could train more.

* No sabotage. If S. Houlihan believed she were sabotaged, S. Houlihan would not have made up a grandiose lie about uncastrated pork burrito.

* It has been stated on other threads, MLB & NFL athletes who tested positive over twenty-years ago used to imply or directly blame supplement & vitamin industry. I won't degrade industry by naming the company often blamed. MLB & NFL athletes no longer even hint supplement & vitamin industry caused positive PED test. That is a defense from 1996 or 1997. Supplement & vitamin industry are not giving away Nandrolone for $10 or $15 dollars a bottle.

As I stated in my first post on this thread, S. Houlihan is just like other criminals who got away it before they no longer got away with it. It does not matter that others have been caught. S. Houlihan obviously thought she was smarter than the ones who got caught. Why drive from Mexico to Texas to Kansas City to Minneapolis with drugs? Every month someone gets caught. Risk/reward for drug mules. Risk/reward for PED users. It is not that complicated. Tell Johnson Brothers and M. Gladwell this simple narrative, since they want a narrative.

So many twists in the plot. You're adding a few more of your own. Everyone is. So we're collectively guilty of whatever we want to accuse each other of.

So where's the smoking gun? I keep asking. But nobody satisfies my curiosity. Especially since none of you know much about Nandrolone.

Are you speaking as a consumer or a dealer or both?

DecaBurrito wrote:

Strange that you'd think she got it from Centro via sex since she is the one performing so well. Many posters here believe Centro is average and was just lucky to even win Rio Olympics.

That's what his rivals were relying on too. That belief that he was average and he couldn't dominate them.

And he knew it too.

That's not luck, that's tactical brilliance.

This tube’s stint on the Nike documentary was similarly rubbish.

The one aspect that seems to have been largely overlooked with respect to the benefits of nandrolone is not its performance benefits, but its healing properties. It has wide-ranging connective tissue repair benefits, and it can work wonders for the joints. These benefits have been observed and studied at length, and there's no shortage of very positive anecdotal reports regarding it's healing properties. It isn't uncommon for strength athletes to take it primarily for the purpose of remaining healthy during competition prep, or for rehabbing injuries. If Shelby Houlihan is in fact guilty, then I would suspect that she wasn't taking it for performance enhancing purposes per se, but for therapeutic purposes.

runner to powerlifter wrote:

The one aspect that seems to have been largely overlooked with respect to the benefits of nandrolone is not its performance benefits, but its healing properties. It has wide-ranging connective tissue repair benefits, and it can work wonders for the joints. These benefits have been observed and studied at length, and there's no shortage of very positive anecdotal reports regarding it's healing properties. It isn't uncommon for strength athletes to take it primarily for the purpose of remaining healthy during competition prep, or for rehabbing injuries. If Shelby Houlihan is in fact guilty, then I would suspect that she wasn't taking it for performance enhancing purposes per se, but for therapeutic purposes.

To recover/ therapeutic etc is deemed enhancing.

There a loads of reasons to take it but why risk it when we have months long detection periods.

No one said she believed she was sabotaged.

a doper got removed from the sport for 4 years.

I am satisfied.

The interesting thing is Houlihan and team early on seem to have latched onto the burrito thing as the only thing that had any chance in court. They went down the supplement route and came up empty with the things they tested coming up clean. They never brought it up again, even though it's way more believable than the burrito story. Maybe once the next appeal fails, Shelby will redirect her excuse from the burrito to open to the possibility that she took a tainted supplement that she discarded too early. Impossible to prove clearly, but way more plausible.

I don't think you're interpreting it right. I think what he's saying is what trial attorneys also know: a compelling case of right versus wrong needs a compelling narrative, not just facts and figures. I don't think he's saying you need to raise the bar, just that a "satisying" outcome is most often achieved with a compelling narrative that tells us WHY something happened, not just that it DID happen.

thoughts and prayers wrote:

a doper got removed from the sport for 4 years.

I am satisfied.

No intent

sanootage wrote:

thoughts and prayers wrote:

a doper got removed from the sport for 4 years.

I am satisfied.

No intent

So what. She's out. Deal with it bro finally and move on.

runner to powerlifter wrote:

The one aspect that seems to have been largely overlooked with respect to the benefits of nandrolone is not its performance benefits, but its healing properties. It has wide-ranging connective tissue repair benefits, and it can work wonders for the joints. These benefits have been observed and studied at length, and there's no shortage of very positive anecdotal reports regarding it's healing properties. It isn't uncommon for strength athletes to take it primarily for the purpose of remaining healthy during competition prep, or for rehabbing injuries. If Shelby Houlihan is in fact guilty, then I would suspect that she wasn't taking it for performance enhancing purposes per se, but for therapeutic purposes.

You're talking about Nandrolone Decanoate and implying that she was microdosing a theraputic dose 50 to 100mg per week?

Or about 10-20 mg per day and using the burrito truck as an alibi every time she injected?

Now that I've put it in numbers, evaluate the plausibility of that scenario?

shaka zulu wrote:

sanootage wrote:

No intent

So what. She's out. Deal with it bro finally and move on.

Intent is a central element of jurisprudence.