The saboteur was her own dumb self messing up the timing and/or the dosage of the nandrolone precursor she and probably everyone else at BTC was taking. "I had all the vitamins/supplements tested [except for the ones I don't want to publicly admit that I take]."
I'll bet she only stopped being paid by Nike in name only. She's probably getting checks from "Schumacher Consulting Services LLC" or something like that. There's no other way that this makes sense, unless she is both (a) richer than we thought and (b) even dumber than we thought.
The most obvious culprits who would tamper with results is the people behind doing the testing, which also explains why they've been so clandestine and secretive with results, and so dogmatic about enforcing criteria when there have been no definitive conclusions, i.e. would their supposed findings result in any performance enhancements.
When that has been shown to be questionable, which it has in this case, then there should not be any penalties for their spurious findings.
For what it's worth, I am not a fan of the BTC coach nor their arrogant accusations of everyone else doping except them, so I feel it is karma that one of them has now been put through the ringer, and that they should NOT be given special treatment.
With that being said, there are major flaws in the drug testing programs, which are only in place to promote drugs and make $$$ for big pharma. Their entire motivation is to make $$$ and promote the ridiculous concept that toxic drugs are supposedly good for people.
I'm wondering how rekrunner (and the similarly-minded here) is going to cope with the "sabotage" defence, since he has gone so hard on the contaminated burrito defense.
The most obvious culprits who would tamper with results is the people behind doing the testing, which also explains why they've been so clandestine and secretive with results, and so dogmatic about enforcing criteria when there have been no definitive conclusions, i.e. would their supposed findings result in any performance enhancements.
When that has been shown to be questionable, which it has in this case, then there should not be any penalties for their spurious findings.
For what it's worth, I am not a fan of the BTC coach nor their arrogant accusations of everyone else doping except them, so I feel it is karma that one of them has now been put through the ringer, and that they should NOT be given special treatment.
With that being said, there are major flaws in the drug testing programs, which are only in place to promote drugs and make $ for big pharma. Their entire motivation is to make $ and promote the ridiculous concept that toxic drugs are supposedly good for people.
Have they been very clandestine or secretive? They laid out pretty much everything out there. I'd suggest reading Ross Tucker's breakdown if you really think anything they did was improper. Maybe they should be a bit more communicative with athletes during the process, but some of Shelby's asks seem pretty unreasonable. She seems to want them to have gone on the same Wild Goose Chase that she did to find out where the mystery banned substance came from. In reality, their job is to confirm that the testing was done properly and assess whether the athlete's explanations are credible through consultation with the experts. Which is what they did.
I like the sarcasm and the concept of a "saboteur" (which is a great word btw!) but I have always maintained this hypothesis of events.
I believe that someone close to her, maybe someone that gee I dunno, possibly left another group because of certain factors associated with doping or "pushing the legal limits", who then never really got better, looked less ripped etc after coming to the group and then eventually left...^^, introduced her to these types of "supplements" (and I think we can be very sure from her recent comments and the findings of WADA that she wasn't ingesting nandrolone directly but instead the over-the-counter precursors) that ultimately she didn't really know how to use in the right way. Clearly "someone" had better advice and resources with respect to pushing up to but not above legal limits and Shelby didn't.
I think the reason this is is because BTC doesn't have a structured program in place of how to bend the rules as far as possible but not break them a-la other now defunct groups so she was left to her own judgements. So think about how difficult this is to get right - you are taking something that synthesizes into something that you are allowed to have in your body - but only to a certain amount. I mean good luck with that. The factors that are in play there are so wide-ranging and nuanced you have to be both pretty stupid and very desperate to roll the dice on - but I think Houlihan is/was both.
I still maintain that despite Schumachers outright dumb comments of "never having heard of nandrolone" and his vehement support of her in the face of her first ludicrous story, he didn't know what was happening or have things in BTC to support this kind of stuff. It is completely possibly and likely she was ultimately acting on her own accord (I mean ultimately in the sense of purchasing and using) - if we are talking 1-2 pills before bedtime each day this isn't exactly a big routine with chance of exposure. If anything the fact she was so far over the limit when she was busted points to someone not very intelligent doing things on their own. I doubt Jerry risks his group and his reputation letting her just do what she wants with stuff he introduced. On the flipside there is a reason none of the Oregon Project guys were busted despite their hematocrit, nandrolone, testosterone etc levels probably being about as optimum as humanly possible for half a decade - that's because Alberto had a crew in place making sure there was no way they would get impatient and just "pop and extra pill after feeling bad in a workout" etc.
Again, saboteur is a great word but "co-conspirator" is my bet ;)
Long-winded scenario, but yes for the past 6 months or so this has seemed like a very plausible scenario.
Her relationship with Matt Centro was weird. I don't trust him one bit either. Also, she was in a relationship with him at the time of the Burrito bite, and she was not in a relationship with him at the point of the press conference. Wonder what changed.
We pretty much know it was a nandy precursor so we have to wait for her to stop lying--if that ever happens.
I like the sarcasm and the concept of a "saboteur" (which is a great word btw!) but I have always maintained this hypothesis of events.
I believe that someone close to her, maybe someone that gee I dunno, possibly left another group because of certain factors associated with doping or "pushing the legal limits", who then never really got better, looked less ripped etc after coming to the group and then eventually left...^^, introduced her to these types of "supplements" (and I think we can be very sure from her recent comments and the findings of WADA that she wasn't ingesting nandrolone directly but instead the over-the-counter precursors) that ultimately she didn't really know how to use in the right way. Clearly "someone" had better advice and resources with respect to pushing up to but not above legal limits and Shelby didn't.
I think the reason this is is because BTC doesn't have a structured program in place of how to bend the rules as far as possible but not break them a-la other now defunct groups so she was left to her own judgements. So think about how difficult this is to get right - you are taking something that synthesizes into something that you are allowed to have in your body - but only to a certain amount. I mean good luck with that. The factors that are in play there are so wide-ranging and nuanced you have to be both pretty stupid and very desperate to roll the dice on - but I think Houlihan is/was both.
I still maintain that despite Schumachers outright dumb comments of "never having heard of nandrolone" and his vehement support of her in the face of her first ludicrous story, he didn't know what was happening or have things in BTC to support this kind of stuff. It is completely possibly and likely she was ultimately acting on her own accord (I mean ultimately in the sense of purchasing and using) - if we are talking 1-2 pills before bedtime each day this isn't exactly a big routine with chance of exposure. If anything the fact she was so far over the limit when she was busted points to someone not very intelligent doing things on their own. I doubt Jerry risks his group and his reputation letting her just do what she wants with stuff he introduced. On the flipside there is a reason none of the Oregon Project guys were busted despite their hematocrit, nandrolone, testosterone etc levels probably being about as optimum as humanly possible for half a decade - that's because Alberto had a crew in place making sure there was no way they would get impatient and just "pop and extra pill after feeling bad in a workout" etc.
Again, saboteur is a great word but "co-conspirator" is my bet ;)
Normally I agree with your takes, but I'm not buying the idea that Schumacher is totally out of the loop or that BTC doesn't have the resources and/or organizational structure that NOP did to facilitate a team-wide doping program. I think Shelby was pissing hot because she intentionally took a nandrolone precursor and wasn't expecting to be tested.
After they all retire, who's the first to write the BTC tell all book?
I want the Stafford tell all. She has trained with two of the most secretive coaches currently active: Jerry Schumacher and Andy Young.
Smoke is pouring out of the Muir/Reekie/Young group now as multiple promising young athletes have left it either broken or with brutal rumours in the last year. Stafford was the first to leave in 2020. The rumours coming out of it range from the believable (just that the coach is nuts and a d1ck) to the very defamatory that you'd get sued for spreading. Either way, even if it's all just smoke they're very secretive up there in that Glasgow group and some light being shone on it would be fascinating.
Then she moves to BTC, just in time for Houlihan to get popped and that whole debacle. Can spill the details on how Houlihan was with the team, how people reacted. Is everyone totally pro Shelby? Is there a split in the team? Did Nike have a role in things at any point? Plus having a behind the scenes look at some great performances (the Centro "comeback," Frerichs silver, Ahmed silver, Fisher records).
Throw in a sibling rivalry vs her sister, her mum dying when she was young, her dad being a former pro runner, dealing with Graves Disease, pressure of being a high school/college phenom and you've got some potatoes to put on the plate next to the meat.
I get she has loud personality that might not be everyone's cup of tea, but that biography would definitely be interesting and would benefit from her being a straight shooter. At least it would be a better read than Bravey.
I think the reason this is is because BTC doesn't have a structured program in place of how to bend the rules as far as possible but not break them
the most important part of any drug regime is to convince people you dont have a drug regime. (see fight club)
congrats, they continue to fool you.
there are many ways to convince people you dont have a drug regime, personally, i dont think that the 'marginal gains' one that you refer to is the best, so maybe that is why you dont think BTC used it.
and anyhow its nonsense, every time you comply with a rule you are experimenting how far to bend it. some, like murder, are obvious. others, like speeding arent.
every coach is a structured program of how to bend the rules as far as possible without breaking them, just some coaches then go the extra mile. like btc / nike.
I'm wondering how rekrunner (and the similarly-minded here) is going to cope with the "sabotage" defence, since he has gone so hard on the contaminated burrito defense.
I've already given you my reaction -- and rather than reading it for comprehension, you not so cleverly reworded it like a child -- I guess out of intellectual insecurity.
The CAS ruling was that she could not establish the source of the nandrolone, on the balance of probability.
This is consistent with Houlihan simply not knowing how it got there. She didn't 100% know then, when she told us that the burrito was the "most likely" explanation. And she still doesn't 100% know now.
There is no change of defense here. Ingestion by burrito during a pandemic remains a possibility, even if she was unable to prove it to 50% likelihood, despite expert estimates that most burritos across America wouldn't cause a positive result in normal times.
Because she doesn't know with 100% certainty, it could have been, and still can be, a burrito, or the vitamins, or sabotage, or any other possibility that still exists she hasn't thought of.
She is the only one in a position to know the probability of steroid pre-cursors, and claims it is not possible (probability=0) because she simply didn't ingest steroid pre-cursors. Prof. Ayotte didn't give us any estimated likelihood of this possibility.
But after sticking with her rediculous burrito excuse for almost a year, then admitting he other day that she never really thought the drug came from a burrito, it's hard to believe anything she says.
OK, if she said she never really thought the drug came from a burrito that is ridiculous given how vehemently she argued about the burrito and the pig meat. It's almost as bad as never having heard of nandrolone.
Because she doesn't know with 100% certainty, it could have been, and still can be, a burrito, or the vitamins, or sabotage, or any other possibility that still exists she hasn't thought of.
It *could* have been a million different things, each with vanishingly low probability. There are not many particularly likely explanations. One very likely explanation is intentional doping. There are no other possibilities that are particularly likely. That doesn’t mean I think she doped with 100% certainty. But that she very likely doped, with almost no chance of an innocent explanation.