Why are people here so certain that Shelby intentionally cheated?

I want to see her back. She has suffered long enough.

Not until her 4 years are up.

Her sentence should be reduced. The 4 year penalty is meant to cover 1 Olympic year not 2.

Here you go:

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You used a reference to a historic event. In that historic event, the "mound" is always referred to as "knoll".

Of course that, when your ignorance is exposed, you resort to attacks. And the fact that you try to belittle other posters because they may not be native English speakers shows how insecure you are. All bullies are insecure.

No, it isn't. It is a reflection of the seriousness of her offence. But you don't get that.

A mound isn't always referred to as a knoll. They are synonyms. This is the English language as used in 1963, not 1863. Your pedantry is misplaced, inaccurate and petty in its motivation. But that's you.

I get it perfectly well. Missing an Olympic year is a serious penalty. Missing two is draconian.

Says who? The rules certainly don't.

Furthermore, if a 4-year suspension for an American starts July 1st 2024, then they'll miss the 2024 Olympics and the 2028 Olympics (because the ban includes our Olympic Trials).

It can also be 0 Olympics with some luck, for example with a 4-year ban from September 2016, or with a ban right after the Olympics, when the next one starts 1 - 2 weeks later (f. ex. 2032 starts 9 days later than 2028).

Those are just technicalities. The rationale for a four year ban is that in 99% of cases it results in an athlete missing an Olympic year. The spirit of the penalty is to cause an athlete to miss one Olympic year not two.

The spirit of the penalty is 'you cheated so you can't compete.' The athlete is banned whether or not they would have had a prayer to make the Olympics. Kevin Castille got a 4 year ban for nandrolone as well, at 47 years old. He was not making the Olympics.

The spirit of the penalty is to cause an athlete to miss one Olympic year. Why do you think the penalty is four years? Four is not an arbitrary number in this sport.

Saying she is a “genuinely wonderful person and many around to her attest to this” doesn’t mean she can’t be cheating. Plenty of nice, genuinely wonderful people cheat. She hasn’t been truthful throughout this whole thing. Why should I believe her about anything else if she has clearly lied already? There are many people that are skeptical of Bowerman as a whole. Of course her teammates would stick-up for her. It would be a bad look if they condemned her. What would that say about the team? What if her teammates are cheating too? What if she is the only one cheating and lied to her teammates? All of these are possible. You keep circling back to the fact that she seems like a wonderful person. That’s her public persona. A lot of people have a great public persona but turn out to be scum bags. Do you know Shelby personally? Do you spend a significant amount of time with her? You view of her doesn’t change the fact that she tested positive for a banned substance and the amount in her system far exceeded what is plausible to have come from food. These are the facts. You’re view of her doesn’t change those facts. That’s why I think her ban is deserved.

Maybe, but I think you're overstating it. Bans can be a season, a year, 2 years, 3...they have been longer than 4 years, 5, even 6,7 years. They can be life. Shelby's was going to be 3, but she did not admit guilt so she got four.

Or maybe you are astonishingly cynical?

In my opinion, the question of whether Shelby was an intentional offender is a complex one, and there are many nuances involved: although there may be doubts about the reasons for the positive doping test, it does not necessarily mean that she knowingly doped, nor did she have friends and admirers does not necessarily exclude the possibility of errors or violations.

Unfortunately, being a nice "incredible" person doesn't change the fact that Shelby tested positive for a banned substance.

I've always said that you're NOT cheating until you get caught...and she got caught.

:(

You have lost this argument.

Sports teaches you that. "Nice" people dope.