"Road Races She talked about her half marathon road race, this summer and that she had some fun doing that. She might incorporate more unsanctioned road races this summer because it was fun. Two crewers suggest she get a fake name, wear a disguise and collect some money while banned. She says it sounds fun but she doesn’t want to deal with the reprecussions of it, which for her, includes letsrun blowing up."
"Shelby claims that fans should listen to the people who know her well about this. Like her sister for example, who laughed out loud when she found out and said that Shelby would never cheat. She feels that should hold weight. Two crewers note that to believe Shelby cheated you have to believe that Shelby and Shalane Flanagan are liars. “Go ahead and live in that world if you want to but I cannot believe that anyone would want to live in that world.”"
This stuff is just proof that she is just an entitled person who has never suffered consequences for her actions.
Summary so you don’t have to listen. First—they call their listeners the “too-crew”. I will refer to the podcasters as too-crewers. They talk about themselves a lot at the beginning of this interview. They also aren’t very well spoken. Off the bat they claim that the way cheating is handled in track and field is “unfair” and it’s “guilty until proven innocent”. They continue with whining about “ruining livlihoods” and proclaim that they have been on her side since day one. Shelby claims to be “helpless” in trying to defend herself. They express outrage at her situation. “If this were any other sport, people would be losing their minds!” They claim that people don’t take a “critical look” at how track and field is handling thigns, and say fans toss out drug cheats at the drop of a hat. Shelby talks about how she always trusted the process, and then once she was going through the process she was terrified, but truly believed that she wouldn’t have been banned. “It’s eye opening to see the way that athletes are treated first hand. If there’s a positive test, you’re just guilty.” She also claims it’s impossible for an athlete to figure out where a positive test really came from, and that she’s upset the burden of guilt is already on her. They apologize for having to start the conversation on such a low note (the allegations) and express that they were such huge fans of hers and wished they were talking about her accolades. They continue to lament how track and field fans dismiss drug cheats while fans of other sports are ride or die for their athletes even when they test positive. They claim that some track and field fans even “root for this to happen”. They ask if she is disappointed in the fanbase. She says she deleted all her social media when it went public. She expected no one to believe her and she was terrified. But in her experience she has actually felt really supported by the fans, but she was intentionally trying to surround herself with support. She had her sister monitor social media and send supportive comments her way. She says there are probably people who don’t believe her, but she hasn’t read those messages, and only filters supportive texts. She expresses that some fans “arrogantly believe that she is guilty without a second thought” and they reach out to her. She doesn’t go on letsrun. But her mom goes on letsrun all the time. Her mom is handling things in a “whole different way” which means she is probably reading a lot of negative comments. She’ll read some things on letsrun and bring them to Shelby, outraged. The two crew podcasters seem genuinely confused about what she was caught for. They keep saying “guilty until proven innocent” as if Shelby was on trial by court of law. Shelby is now blabbering about keeping an open mind. Yawn. Now she’s talking about how she second guesses positive tests that she hears from other athletes. She talks about how WADA doesn’t have to prove that she intentionally doped and she feels there’s no evidence that it happened. That frustrates her, because she feels that they never proved that or had to prove that or whatever. Babbles more about getting more information and keeping an open mind, and the two crewers babble about MLB and offer some mild platitudes about testing, and now they are talking about appeals. Shelby explains all the logistics of what happened with the AIU and CAS. Same old story about silence from the AIU for months and the Olympic trials were coming up. Lost the CAS decision and lost the Swiss appeal, which was hard to overturn. Swiss appeal was hard because you have to find fault with how something was legally handled in the original case. She wasn’t able to do that. Two crewers are fired up at the injustice! Is she fired up? Is she pissed off? Enough time is passed and she’s in a better headspace with where it’s at right now, but she’s been able to process it. (Honestly good for her. Just wish she’d tell the truth now). But she’s always going to be a little “pissed off” about it. Two crewers declare that the first championship race that she runs in after returning from a ban is going to be “appointment television”. Wheeeeewwww Shelby is ready to come out swinging post ban! She has so much left in the tank! She is angry that all this time was taken away from her! She wants to just RUN AWAY from everyone! She’s trying not to get her hopes up to do that though. It will be a transition for her. She knows it will take some time to get back into top form after the ban. Two crewers express admiration at how emotionally raw she is after she answered that question. Future with Bowerman? It’s up in the air and dependent on a lot of things. They moved to Eugene. She is (presumably) still in Portland, or she didn’t move there. She’d love to join when it’s all over. The social aspect something that she’s really noticed why she loves running. Here’s some tea: she was asked about how BTC felt about the move to Eugene. She is surprisingly honest here—she says most people on BTC were really upset about the move. They had to leave their friends and some of them had to leave their partners behind in Portland. She still makes trips to Eugene but just to visit and grab dinner with them when she can. Relationship with running? She’s not really loving it right now, but she can’t stop doing it. The biggest struggle has been mental. She sometimes gives into laziness, and feels lethargic and listless about it. Physically she’s fine. Last year she was way more burned out than she thought. She doesn’t want to do time trials anymore becuase it just felt demoralized. She’s trying to switch it up, and treat the next two years as a really long build up. Road Races She talked about her half marathon road race, this summer and that she had some fun doing that. She might incorporate more unsanctioned road races this summer because it was fun. Two crewers suggest she get a fake name, wear a disguise and collect some money while banned. She says it sounds fun but she doesn’t want to deal with the reprecussions of it, which for her, includes letsrun blowing up. Keeping busy: She plays video games, but she isn’t good. She has also started cat sitting. Now they’re talking about video games and I might fall asleep listening to this. They ask about Shalane Flanagan. She says that having Shalane’s support was a big deal ot her. Having Shalane speak out publicly as well as her teammates meant a lot to her. She felt lucky “even when one person spoke out”. She’s happy that Shalane is coaching at Oregon and doing well there. Her teammates and coaches never for one second doubted her. Jerry and Shalane beleived instantly that they had it wrong. She says Shalane has been cheated out of meals so to have Shalane’s support was meaningful. For the two-crewers, all they needed to believe Shelby was hearing the support of Shalane and Jerry. Hearing someone that generates such high respect as Shalane was enough for them to know she was innocent. They feel others should believe this too. “Look to the infomration that you do have people!”—two crewers Shelby claims that fans should listen to the people who know her well about this. Like her sister for example, who laughed out loud when she found out and said that Shelby would never cheat. She feels that should hold weight. Two crewers note that to believe Shelby cheated you have to believe that Shelby and Shalane Flanagan are liars. “Go ahead and live in that world if you want to but I cannot believe that anyone would want to live in that world.” Shelby laughs about the polygraph and how nervous she was to take it. She describes it in full, it’s not that interesting, just watch Che and Jost grill each other YouTube if you want to see it. Two crewers tell her again that they are on her side and they are rooting for her and they cannot wait for the comeback tour. Now they’re playing this weird game called down the homestretch. Just rapid fire questions When do you put up Christmas lights Day after thanksgiving Real tree or fake tree? She has a fake tree but she likes real trees better. She never cut her own tree, blah blah blah Alexa play Christmas Tree Farm by Taylor swift. Cranberry Sauce, side or condiment? condiment. She doesn’t like it. Is cash an acceptable gift? Yes. Memorable childhood gift? A puppy She got a dog of her own recently. Mini dachund. Thanksgiving eve, going out? She’s never gone out with her high school friends on Thanksgiving eve before. Staying out on NYE? She’s only not stayed up once out of the last five years. She’ll make it ot midnight but she might not remember it. These questions are so boring my god. Elf is her favorite Xmas movie. Xmas song? Mariah Carey. She plugged her cat sitting gig. I’m all for that. Make money the right way.
About 5 years ago, a package of HgH was delivered to one of Peyton Manning's home's. HgH was delivered to his wife as if she needed to throw a football over 50 miles per hour for 40 yards. N.F.L. and U.S. media made nothing of the delivery. Only al-Jazeera reported the story. N.B.A., N.F.L., N.H.L. and M.L.B. don't like to make issue of p.e.d. use. Conseco (sp?) Brothers admitted to steroid use so M.L.B. had no choice.
Yes it's amazing what can happen if you're protected and well-liked. Far more big names have their dirt covered instead of exposed. As for these leagues, they understand public relations. Having a slew of stars popped and bad publicity hurts the league. I actually give the MLB credit for fighting against steroids. The nfl and nba just ignores the PED use in favor of maintaining good PR which in turn yields mote revenue.
These guys acting like they’re telling some great untold story. Banned athlete claims they are clean - wow, what a unique story.
There's a saying that many elite athlete's live by, "You ain't cheating til' you get caught". Unfortunately, this is true and if you're going to compete in this sport you need to make a decision as to what you're going to do. Is it "High Risk" poker, not really. You'll be amazed at how well the system works and the truth comes out when you do the right thing.
The Instagram quote from the Podcasters:
Everyone should have the opportunity to defend themselves. This sport has a “guilty until proven innocent” system. Ask yourself if you’re ready to ruin someone’s career, livelihood, and reputation over this. And before you send that DM, write that comment, or submit that review, we are asking you to keep an open mind.
Please correct me if I'm mistaken, there was an extensive investigation with extensive testing and expert testimony that cost thousands of dollars that concluded SH was guilty. Am I wrong or did I miss something? You will NEVER eliminate the court of public opinion..."Perception is greater than truth". The only remedy for this is to present facts and evidence, and this was painstakingly done. What does CAS or WADA have against Shelby? Why would they want to "Railroad" her or "Ruin" her career. What do they have to gain? There's no conspiracy here...PERIOD! There are thousands of NEGATIVE drug tests conducted each year among elite athletes with no fanfare (nor should there be), and all of sudden a positive test appears and the system is flawed? You can't have your cake and eat it too...Sorry!
Shelby got popped and convicted of doping, she's serving a 4 year ban and life goes on. Did she screw over her competitors? Yep! and she will never live that down, and her running accomplishments will be tainted FOREVER!
But her career has been effectively ruined. If softball interviews make her feel a little better, I don’t have a problem with it.
Were you a serious athlete? What happened to her would be devastating. I’m not saying people should have sympathy for her but rather that the punishment she received should appease most people.
For every other drug cheat there was never any hesitation to pull out the tar and feathers and cast them into an oblivion. But for Shelby, we see stuff like this. All this talk about how devastating it is...for HER. You're not seeing the bigger picture.
Look at all the damage she has done to the sport. 2 American records are unbeatable now. All this talk about Tuohy and Valby and the future--but they are walking into a doped up sport and they can no longer dream of getting that 5K or 1500 record because it's too drugged.
Do you know who Katie Follett is? no? well of course you don't. Shelby stole opportunities she had to become a member of Team USA. She missed opportunities to compete at the World championships because Shelby thrashed the competition--and her.
Shannon Osika missed the Olympic team by inches in 2021--well she too was robbed by Shelby in the past to make a world championships team too.
Shannon Rowbury, never won an international medal, and those two American records were her crown jewel. Gone.
Colleen Quigley was treated like SHE was the problem on BTC...well, it turns out Shelby stole a title from her too. Colleen has 1 US title to her name. Would things be different if she had gotten two?
Jenny Simpson--the best America ever had, was basically told she was old washed up goods one year after she won silver at the world champs because of the way Shelby embarrassed her at Pre and USA's in 2018. Jenny worked so hard and for so long and didn't need some cheap doper looking for shortcuts coming in to beat her.
But the worst damage Shelby did was not the records or the titles or the teams. It is this current crusade she is on to prove that she is a victim of some grand injustice. Shelby has sown doubt in the process, and distrust in the system where it shouldn't be. Some runners are afraid to eat meat at restaurants now, and others are afraid to be drug tested. All because some doper can't cop up to the truth. She is truly a disgrace in every sense of the word.
This is a really good post. If they allowed victim impact statements into the proceedings like they do in actual court cases, it might make some of these apologists think twice before shilling for her so hard. Not quite so appealing lamenting the "unjust" treatment of Shelby when juxtaposed with the unjust treatment of all those left in her steroid-fuelled wake.
She talks about how WADA doesn’t have to prove that she intentionally doped and she feels there’s no evidence that it happened. That frustrates her, because she feels that they never proved that or had to prove that or whatever.
She is either very stupid or relies on other people being very stupid, naive or disingenuous to keep trotting out versions of the above. Try telling the cop who pulls you for a DUI and gets a positive reading that until he/she provides proof that you intentionally drank that extra beer - you are actully sober and should be allowed to continue driving.
In today's edition of "podcasts selling out for more views" we have the Peaked 2 Early Podcast hosting Shelby Houlihan in what appears to be another sympathetic format. I honestly don't have a problem with Shelby doing interviews, I more take issue with these podcasts that just lob softballs and give her a platform to tell her side of the story without any pushback. If Shelby and her team truly believed her innocence they would go get interviewed by some real journalists who aren't afraid to ask tough questions. Its telling that they have chosen the Peaked 2 Early Podcast and the Running Effect as their platforms to tell their story.
We wonder why our sport doesn't get taken seriously and yet people in the running media keep propping up convicted dopers.
Did they rename it "Popped Too Early" for this episode? Lance got lots of podcast exposure after being outed as his disgraceful self. Podcasts are bellwethers of nothing other than their own desperation for an audience.
THIS. She robbed multiple clean athletes of their opportunities. She STOLE from them. The damage done was not just to her own life. But as long as she denies her guilt, she can never er address this fact. She should move on & get a regular job & contribute to the world in a positive way to redeem herself. She will of course be writing a book.
THIS. She robbed multiple clean athletes of their opportunities. She STOLE from them. The damage done was not just to her own life. But as long as she denies her guilt, she can never er address this fact. She should move on & get a regular job & contribute to the world in a positive way to redeem herself. She will of course be writing a book.
It better not be an autobiography, you need a little bit of objectivity and insight for that.
THIS. She robbed multiple clean athletes of their opportunities. She STOLE from them. The damage done was not just to her own life. But as long as she denies her guilt, she can never er address this fact. She should move on & get a regular job & contribute to the world in a positive way to redeem herself. She will of course be writing a book.
It better not be an autobiography, you need a little bit of objectivity and insight for that.