Shelby Houlihan Ban Upheld -- Loses Appeal

Shelby just posted on Instagram:
"I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to say here and in the end, I’m not sure there are any good words for it.
Last week, I was informed that I lost my appeals and my ban will be upheld. No reason has been given yet for why they were dismissed. I was told from the start that it was a long shot; it’s extremely hard to overturn these cases and I shouldn’t get my hopes up. I had to try anyway. I had to fight for myself, my career, and my reputation because I am innocent. The truth hasn’t won here and that’s devastating.
Up until this point, I had been advised to lay low and not say or do anything in order to not jeopardize my appeal process. I think this was best because I also wasn’t ready to talk about it. I needed time for myself to process everything that’s happened and to start working on how to move forward. I appreciate people being understanding and giving me the space for that.
I do believe that there are flaws in the anti-doping system who’s unfair practices result in unjust outcomes. I believe it’s broken. I also believe that there are other innocent athletes who have, and will continue to be, affected by this system. This is a problem and it needs to be addressed. I hope as I continue to move forward that I can use my experience to help change it."

Thoughts?

Jonathan Gault has written a story that includes some new quotes from Shelby.

Not surprising and it will be interesting to see how Nike and Bowerman TC respond.

"Authentic"

Good, they are a disgrace.

Looks like her appeal efforts were just castrated. The boar on the other hand, was not.

Delightful.

She literally admits she’s devastated.

This news came just in time for lunch here on the east coast. I'm gonna head up and get a carne asada burrito for lunch, but i'm only going to eat 3/4 of it. Anybody want the last quarter****?

*There is a small chance they will mess up my order and I will be served pork instead of carne asada

**There is a small chance the pork they served me will be from not a pig, but a boar.

***There is a small chance that the boar that was mistaken for a pig will be a
cryptorchid with undescended testicles

****There is a small chance that pieces of these undescended testicles will be ground up and included in your burrito.

Who?

Ultras?

By this point she has a bit under 3 years left to serve, correct??

Does she support Amber or Johnny?

Cas dismissed Houlihan’s claims, saying: “The explanation presupposes a cascade of factual and scientific improbabilities, which means that its composite probability is (very) close to zero.

“First, the athlete would have had to have been served pork at the food truck despite ordering beef. Second, the pork consumed would not have been ‘normal’ pork product ordered by the food truck, but uncastrated boar. Third, uncastrated boar enters the food chain through completely different channels than pork.

“It is rather difficult for an uncastrated pig to ‘slip through’ the multiple checkpoints. In principle, boars can be easily detected because of their big testicles.”

Cas quoted experts who said that for an uncastrated boar to end up in the normal pork supply chain, it not only had to be cryptorchid – a specimen with undescended testicles – but have had elevated androgen levels, “which would be abnormal for 6-month-old pigs”.
The court said: “The concentration of nandrolone in the athlete’s urine was 2-3 times higher than the highest values reported in the scientific literature after the ingestion of much more significant quantities of meat of mature (uncastrated) boar.

“Finally, in his expert witness report, Prof McGlone states that the chance of a cryptorchid ending up in the normal supply chain in the United States is far less than 1 in 10,000. As a result of her failure to establish the origin of the nandrolone in her system, the athlete cannot benefit from a plea of no significant fault or negligence.”

theguardian.com

Cas says ‘close to zero’ probability burrito led to Shelby Houlihan’s failed drugs test

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/seaningle

A Cas report on the four-year drugs ban for the US athlete Shelby Houlihan has ruled there is ‘very close to zero’ probability she ingested nandrolone from a contaminated pork burrito, as she had claimed

Open link

Hasn't gone home yet, but likely soon.

Sorry BroJos, and the sicko defenders of proven doper!

But those were authentic burritos!

Good. One less doper in the sport is always good news.

Unpopular opinion/theory:

I believe that someone sabotaged her food/drink at some point in time. Whatever the case, I don’t think she took what showed up in her system knowingly.