Shelby Houlihan: "I want to be very clear. I’ve never taken any performance-enhancing substances"

JohnNgugi wrote:

Jerry has a VERY good reputation in the business

There's zero chance Schumacher would condone, promote, or attempt to conceal any doping. He's an absolute purist.

I know most of you doucheclowns like to pound one out thinking about how everyone is dirty, but you're barking up the wrong tree here.

So pure that he doesn't know what Nandrolone is.

GnomeBe wrote:

I honestly think she is innocent.

A lot of 2:19 800m guys think not.

If her quote of the day is accurate, then I think she's innocent.

The very least they can do is let her run in the trials and do the further testing she talks about.

wert123 wrote:

GnomeBe wrote:

I honestly think she is innocent.

A lot of 2:19 800m guys think not.

what do you run to know the truth? 2.15?

1:52.4

......I think she went out and ate a pig burrito to C.H.A after the testers cane by.

The "bad burrito defense," a classic joke theme. It's the pork, if at all. Too bad the transfer was a burrito- might have had more credibility.

More study is needed on the science behind the "tainted pork".

The effects will linger....like a......

A couple of things on this:

1. She is not claiming anything about the US food supply, she is arguing that nandrolone naturally occurs in pig meat. If that's the case, then it would be found everywhere - and indeed, has been as the Kibet case shows (he says he consumed it in Italy). So a decent rule of thumb for athletes now, is don't eat pig meat in any form until your career is down.

2. Even if this was a case of livestock being given steroids to foster growth, as is routine in the US, that's a US problem and it's unfair on athletes across the world if there is an exemption for American athletes because the government doesn't regulate farming properly. If WADA adjusted the testing levels for the US it would basically give cover to athletes to use banned substances that they know can be found in the food chain (and yes, they would do this, athletes and coaches always push the boundaries of legality when looking for an edge. Even the sainted Jerry has had his athletes on TUEs and thyroid meds in the past). A basic principle of justice is that everyone is equal before the law, if rules don't apply to everyone equally then the whole system breaks down.

The contaminated meat story can be verified by tracking the source of the meat. In the Kibet case, he was told to have the oil analysed to prove it could contain levels of nandrolone found in his system. The burden of proof is on Houlihan now - go to the food cart, find out the meat supplier, get a batch, and have it independently tested. I'm sure Nike has the resources to do this quickly.

For now, let's stop this talk about injustice when the facts are she had 2.5 times the permissible level of nandrolone in her system - 2.5 times! That's not a "trace amount." She has presented no evidence to show how it ended up in her system and until she does it's hard to believe her

how often would something like nandralone be taken? would like to match this info up with how often her geo locations, receipts etc match her up to these burrito places.

is she getting micro dosed once per week and also getting burritos once per week? would love to have answers to questions like this

sbeefyk2 wrote:

Here’s what I think about the food excuse. Why is it ONLY Americans that have positive tests due to food? Do other countries not eat any food?

.

Other countries don't allow so much garbage to be pumped into their meat before they consume it. Whether SH is guilty or not is another story, but on the food issue, no, many other countries do not eat the same "food" that we do.

She may be innocent, who truly knows at this point, but...Kara Goucher, stay out of it already!!!!! She's gotta have her mouth in everything!

Dimes to dollars she fights it and wins, being allowed to run the trials.

ABCDEFG29 wrote:

sbeefyk2 wrote:

Here’s what I think about the food excuse. Why is it ONLY Americans that have positive tests due to food? Do other countries not eat any food?

.

Other countries don't allow so much garbage to be pumped into their meat before they consume it. Whether SH is guilty or not is another story, but on the food issue, no, many other countries do not eat the same "food" that we do.

Here's news for you: there are other options. I only eat humanely raised, hormone and anti biotic free pork. It's readily available everywhere. Applegate farms is one brand, but there are many others. Her excuse is so lame that I can't believe so many on this board are falling for it. The dramatic change in her physique is a dead giveaway. And for her coaches to feign outrage is reason enough to question every runner in their group.

"The contaminated meat story can be verified by tracking the source of the meat. In the Kibet case, he was told to have the oil analysed to prove it could contain levels of nandrolone found in his system. The burden of proof is on Houlihan now - go to the food cart, find out the meat supplier, get a batch, and have it independently tested. I'm sure Nike has the resources to do this quickly."

Believe it or not, Shelby and her team are just as smart as you are. She was notified in January and they have undoubtly searched for any possible evidence that would support her burrito story.

They made their best case to CAS and it was rejected. She's been banned and there will no new evidence.

1. Your first original question is right - she should say exactly what she ordered and ate. Her repeated mealy mouthed wording (i ate at a place where there was some pork prepared) makes me suspicious. It was so frustrating no one at the press conference asked 'specifically - what did you eat that day?'

2. you should pay John Gault to eat a few steroid pork burritos and see how he tests the next morning

3. Schumacher saying he'd 'never heard of nandrolone' is very suspicious

Shelby Houlihan claimed last year part of her sudden improvement was due to improved diet. Seems the diet was burritos with a side dish of nandrolone.

Not tryna make excuses. I really feel like I don’t have an opinion until I can read the ruling statements.

However, as soon as I started reading about the situation, I remembered reading an article about Shelby’s health issues as a child and some problem with her blood.

Looked it up and she had a rare blood disorder that lead to having her spleen and gallbladder removed. Don’t know if this could’ve affected how her body processed said “meat” if she is telling the truth.

https://www.womensrunning.com/culture/people/you-dont-know-shelby-houlihan/

That’s the link to the article. I’m no scientist. Just speculating as are the rest of you

If getting a competitive advantage with 5 ng/l of nandrolone were as easy as eating a burrito, wouldn't thousands of athletes at the cutting edge of performance doping be choosing that method over injection? Not only could you fall back on the tainted meat defense, you could actually provide WADA with one of the burritos from your freezer that you have for lunch every day. Case dismissed!

[Apologies to Paula for providing a roadmap to future cheaters.]

SDSU Aztec wrote:

"The contaminated meat story can be verified by tracking the source of the meat. In the Kibet case, he was told to have the oil analysed to prove it could contain levels of nandrolone found in his system. The burden of proof is on Houlihan now - go to the food cart, find out the meat supplier, get a batch, and have it independently tested. I'm sure Nike has the resources to do this quickly."

Believe it or not, Shelby and her team are just as smart as you are. She was notified in January and they have undoubtly searched for any possible evidence that would support her burrito story.

They made their best case to CAS and it was rejected. She's been banned and there will no new evidence.

Unless I missed it, they offered no real exculpatory evidence. Why not? They have the resources to move heaven and earth to conclusively demonstrate that the meat consumed was tainted. Testing her hair? How about simply identifying the meat supplier and testing? They either tried and failed or didn’t bother because it’s all made up. The statements were full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Alberto Contador - contaminated meat

Iannone

The badminton player

All sad

If they could have used a defence based on the rare blood disease etc they would certainly have done that.

Some of us wondered since 2018 how a woman without a spleen and a rare condition suddenly rose from second to last in a wc final to beating some of the world's best and crushing US records. As a layman I thought that maybe she was allowed some otherwise restricted drugs because of that rare medical condition and that this could be used to gain an advantage. Like the asthma med of the skiers, just more personal.

edward teech wrote:

losing a lot of respect for Flanagan defending her, makes me suspicious of flanagan as well. i never would have though Flanagan doped. However, it was 100% obvious (worse than Makdaddy) that Shelby was cheating. It is shocking that some think she is innocent. The most obviously doped athlete since Rupp gets busted and she is using the pork excuse.

look at the red flags:

-huge jump in performance (2017-2018)

-closing out races in 61 and not out of breath

-setting 1500 and 5k records with ease

-huge change in muscular physique

-AND a positive doping test

if this was an kenyan or russian 2 out of 5 of these and this board would be screaming cheating. I would have tons more of respect for her if she just said, yeah i cheated, i had to to keep up with the other cheaters.....Christian Hesche style.

"not out of breath"

"huge change in muscular physique"

where are you getting this? this isn't real. give us examples or stop spouting nonsense. she looks fit, but that's not even close to damning evidence.