Shelby, Jerry and Shalane and the lawyer made some very powerful statements at the press event today. I know many of you won't watch an hour long video so we are going turn today's press event into a podcast as it's much easier for you all to listen to something of that length while commuting or running. In the meantime, we've also spliced out Shelby, Jerry's and Shalane's opening statements. Some of my favorite quotes from Jerry are below. He also made some before this which I loved as he acknowledged fellow coaches and athletes would be skeptical.
Jerry said:
The system is broken. It no longer protects athletes. I hope that we demand better from our sport because our athletes deserve it.
To the AIU and WADA. Shame on you. Shame on you for not caring about the truth. Shame on you for using athletes in a political chess match. You got it very wrong this time and that’s not OK. It’s not ok to be right 9 times out of 10 when you decide to execute someone’s athletic life and dreams. You don’t deserve this power.
What we are witnessing here is a great tragedy in the history of American distance running. Not only is Shelby an exceptionally talented athlete, but she has also developed her talent through hard work and discipline. She is as tough as nails. She is an exceptional teammate. She loves to compete. She just might be the best 1500 runner in the world this year but we will never get the opportunity to find out and that is a tragedy.
Over the past six months I’ve learned that certain organizations in track and field have abandoned clean athletes. We need drug testing and aggressive drug testing at that to work towards cleaner sport. I will always support that. But the system is broken. It is a system that no longer protects clean athletes and instead ruins them. We can only assume this will continue if we coaches and athletes continue to accept it. I hope we demand better form our sport as our athletes deserve it.“
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His whole opening statement is here:
https://youtu.be/yknzgioo1hUHere is the whole press event.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jtMMxBPxGg