Why do you need an answer? Have you heard about this thing called sports before? It gets millions of people to discuss results, athletes, the surrounding politics. Why is anything in life important? Why not just stick to talk about where to gather food and how to protect our home?
Why should I care if seomone else does a crime, or does something I think is immoral? It doesn't concern me, right? Well unfortunate I am not as egoistic as you, so I just care. It upsets me to read the post of her former teammate. It upsets me that she tries to get attention that other runners deserve. It upsets me if they are breaking the rules (again, first time was having nandrolone in their body). You don't need to repeat that "by your reading" she has done nothing wrong, we all know.
I have to apologize to you. You actually provided me an answer.
I didn't ever say "she has done nothing wrong" but say "if ...".
I'm genuinely sorry for GDS, that she wasn't getting the clarity and communication she needed, and that Jerry/Shalane/Shelby/BTC didn't appreciate the extent of her concerns and address it sufficiently, until it was too late. As I said, I get that.
But my opinion of the surrounding politics is that GDS never had anything to worry about, regardless.
Have you read any of the articles/interviews from GDS on this topic because it sounds like you have not. Everyone is definitely entitled to their opinion of course, but some of what you are saying is reads as just uninformed.
"Apparently the verbatim text of the WADA Code which spells out her obligations, and something she is obligated to know as an athlete, wasn't enough to provide her the clarity she needed to determine whether she was at risk of violating the Code."
She discusses this explicitly in her interview--and she felt she WAS at risk, she brought it up, multiple times and it was not addressed.
I'm extremely curious to know how you would back up your opinion that GDS had nothing to back up her fear of a violation. She gave a first hand account of the situation. Do you--have a counter first hand account? Some evidence to the the contrary of hers? Unless you are going to say that you are a current member of BTC and name yourself (please, please do if it's true!) Lol. Again, what an awkward thing to say, to directly discount a first hand experience of a member of the team.
Do you realize that GDS was aware of this and this exactly what she was questioning lol. There is an interview on Let's Run in which she precisely and concisely discusses that this is the reason why she left the team, is confusion, and lack of communication around this very issue. This is extremely awkward for you. I'm sorry.
I don't know all of the things that GDS was aware of, but I do realize that GDS was confused and worried. This is not awkward for me at all, as I have the relevant answers to her questions.
Apparently the verbatim text of the WADA Code which spells out her obligations, and something she is obligated to know as an athlete, wasn't enough to provide her the clarity she needed to determine whether she was at risk of violating the Code.
You fail to realize the optics of having a banned steroid user around is bad for business and her own brand. That to me is the #1 issue. personally I wouldn't care about the full legality of the WADA code for Shelby training . Just like the optics of USATF having sprint coaches who had PED violations.
There's definitely something wrong with the situation. Salazar was rightly dragged for what went on at NOP, even before he was suspended, when all we had were testimonies from Magness and Goucher. Now, we have BTC with it's proven doping positive and the coach has not had to answer a single question about it or his subsequent response in allowing the doped athlete to continue training alongside the group. Is it because Schumacher isn't as big a fish as Salazar, that's why no one cares? In the MSM, I'm sure no one even knows who BTC are since, but running journalists should be on this. Why hasn't anyone wrote a feature about the BTCs response to this whole episode? Are they too close to some of the people around BTC e.g. Flanagan has a lot of supporters among the running media. Someone needs to get into this, ask hard questions and do the job of a journalist rather than a scribe.
Jerry HAS said something about it and it was almost immediately. He hasn't said much lately because it was being investigated and appealed. Runners who have left said they saw no foul play with the team. There is a huge difference between this and what happened with Salazar.
Schumacher said almost nothing. A mind-boggling rant when the ban was announced, in which he refused to take questions. Since then, nothing he's let the storm develop and stayed hidden in his shelter. Solid leadership.
Have you read any of the articles/interviews from GDS on this topic because it sounds like you have not. Everyone is definitely entitled to their opinion of course, but some of what you are saying is reads as just uninformed.
"Apparently the verbatim text of the WADA Code which spells out her obligations, and something she is obligated to know as an athlete, wasn't enough to provide her the clarity she needed to determine whether she was at risk of violating the Code."
She discusses this explicitly in her interview--and she felt she WAS at risk, she brought it up, multiple times and it was not addressed.
I'm extremely curious to know how you would back up your opinion that GDS had nothing to back up her fear of a violation. She gave a first hand account of the situation. Do you--have a counter first hand account? Some evidence to the the contrary of hers? Unless you are going to say that you are a current member of BTC and name yourself (please, please do if it's true!) Lol. Again, what an awkward thing to say, to directly discount a first hand experience of a member of the team.
I have read the letsrun interview and I'm pretty fully informed. You have told me nothing I didn't already know. Nor has anyone else.
I have also read the WADA Code -- and this is what I would use to back up my opinion.
Having said that -- and I'll give you some credit for this -- there is something I found in the WADA Code I had not considered before, which makes more sense.
Maybe GDS (and/or others) questioned whether Houlihan's presence would qualify Houlihan as an "Athlete Support Personnel", as this definition is rather broadly defined by WADA to include "any other Person working with ... or assisting an Athlete". GDS would be bound by an obligation to not associate with a banned Athlete Support Personnel, which includes banned Athletes acting as an Athlete Support Person.
So while clause 10.14 Status during Ineligibility, is quite clear to me wouldn't apply to GDS, perhaps GDS (and others) was (were) more concerned with the clause 2.10 Prohibited Association by an Athlete, which doesn't prohibit association with banned Athletes, but does prohibit assocation with Athlete Support Personnel. Association is not a defined term, but the Comment 15 gives examples of association to include "obtaining training, strategy, technique, nutrition or medical advice".
You fail to realize the optics of having a banned steroid user around is bad for business and her own brand. That to me is the #1 issue. personally I wouldn't care about the full legality of the WADA code for Shelby training . Just like the optics of USATF having sprint coaches who had PED violations.
Apparently this wasn't the #1 issue for GDS.
"Optics" is also partly a problem of the beholder. That doesn't interest me too much unless there is substance.
You fail to realize the optics of having a banned steroid user around is bad for business and her own brand. That to me is the #1 issue. personally I wouldn't care about the full legality of the WADA code for Shelby training . Just like the optics of USATF having sprint coaches who had PED violations.
Apparently this wasn't the #1 issue for GDS.
"Optics" is also partly a problem of the beholder. That doesn't interest me too much unless there is substance.
Incredible arrogance in your view. You do not have mind reading abilities, and you are not authorized to speak on behalf of GDS . You have no idea what her #1 reason for leaving is . She put out a statement on why she left ,it was media friendly . That’s it . Maybe he main reason is she doesn’t believe in Jerry ,and doesn’t like her old teammate . The sourness of Shalane’s comments after she left is all you need to know about how close everyone was .
"Optics" is also partly a problem of the beholder. That doesn't interest me too much unless there is substance.
Incredible arrogance in your view. You do not have mind reading abilities, and you are not authorized to speak on behalf of GDS . You have no idea what her #1 reason for leaving is . She put out a statement on why she left ,it was media friendly . That’s it . Maybe he main reason is she doesn’t believe in Jerry ,and doesn’t like her old teammate . The sourness of Shalane’s comments after she left is all you need to know about how close everyone was .
Arrogant? Indeed, I can't read her mind, and simply relay the appearances based on what she said in the letsrun interview. That's what "apparently" means.
Surely GDS is authorized to speak on behalf of GDS, rather than anonymous posters like "Gatlin #1" or "You are wrong".
Unless they were in other interviews or statements that I have not seen, none of her stated reasons stated were "bad for business", "her own brand", or "optics", so it appears that these are not possible candidates for her #1 issue.
This should calm some of you down. From a Runners World interview:
"Houlihan, 29, told Runner’s World on May 23 that she is no longer doing any training with members of the Bowerman Track Club, and neither Bowerman head coach Jerry Schumacher nor assistant coach Shalane Flanagan is coaching her currently."
"RW: Are you currently at altitude with Bowerman? SH: I’m up in Park City, [Utah]. I’m not training with anyone. I have my own place here. So they’re also up here, but I’m not training with them."
According to Strava, Houlihan is back in Park City for altitude training. So is Bowerman. Karissa also posted on Strava that she did a long run there.
Need not deduce this with Strava sleuthing. Houlihan posted on Instagram this weekend that she was packing up all her stuff in Portland and putting it in storage, going to Park City for a while to run, and then continuing on to Iowa sometime in the summer to be around family. Now, if she doesn't make the second move, and tracks BTC somewhere else, that would be something.