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Runner Shelby Houlihan announced June 14 that she has been suspected for four years for a positive test for an anabolic steroid in December 2020.
The Iowa native wrote on social media that she was provisionally banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for nandrolone, which has been found in pork.
"We're trying to seek every option that we can to appeal this," Houlihan said in an interview with Fox News. "It's not right. I don't think I should be serving a four-year ban for something that I didn't do. We're trying to exhaust every option that we can."
[h=2]What does Houlihan's suspension mean?[/h]The ban, if upheld, will take Houlihan out of U.S. Olympic Trials this week and the next two Olympics, Tokyo this summer and Paris in 2024. It would also the world championships in Eugene, Ore., in 2022 and and Budapest in 2023.
Houlihan, a 2016 Olympian who finished 11th in the 5,000-meter run, had her eyes trained on a medal-winning performance in Tokyo. She finished fourth in the 1,500-meter run at the 2019 world championships.
[h=2]Houlihan tested positive for nandrolone. What is it?[/h]Nandrolone is a "synthetic, anabolic steroid," according to the National Library of Medicine, and is similar to testosterone. It can help increase nitrogen retention and fat-free muscle mass.
"I want to be very clear," Houlihan wrote on Instagram. "I have never taking any performance enhancing substances. And that includes that of which I am being accused. I believe in the sport and pushing your body to the limit just to see where the limit is. I'm not interested in cheating. I don't do this for the accolades, money, or for people to know my name. I do this because I love it. I have so much fun doing it and it's always the best part of my day."
[h=2]Houlihan thinks a pork burrito led to her failed test[/h]She believes the nandrolone came from pork in a burrito. Houlihan said she appealed the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was informed that it did not accept her explanation.
"From what I've been told, pig offal has high concentrations of nandrolone," Houlihan told Fox News. "This food truck that I happened to go to that night (before the test) — I've eaten there a lot before — this food truck serves pig offal as part of their menu. I happened to ingest this hormone, and 10 hours later at the peak of when it's supposed to be in your body while you're digesting it, I happened to get tested. Honestly, it's a very unlucky series of events. I'm kind of blown away by what happened."
[h=2]Houlihan is a Sioux City, Iowa, native and won four state titles as a senior[/h]Houlihan graduated from Sioux City East in 2011, capping one of Iowa's most dominant high school track and field and cross country careers in history.
In the fall of her senior year, Houlihan won the 2010 cross country state championship. Then in the spring, she snagged three state titles in track — the 400, 800, and 1,500-meter runs. Thanks to her senior season, Houlihan was named the 2010-11 Gatorade Iowa Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
Houlihan also recorded eight Drake Relays titles while in high school.
[h=2]Houlihan and her team plan to appeal the suspension[/h]In her appearance on Fox News, Houlihan and her lawyer Paul Greene said the plan to appeal her suspension.
"I'm putting all my trust in the process," Houlihan said. "I've tried to so far, and honestly, it's failed me. But I'm going to keep trusting that the truth will come out and I'll be able to compete in the coming years. I think I'm going to miss the trials this year, unfortunately, when I've worked really hard and I'm in the best shape of my life right now. I'm trying to trust the process and hope that I can get justice from this."
[h=2]Lawyer: Houlihan's subsequent drug test was clean[/h]Greene said there are only two explanations for the positive drug test: foodborne contamination or an oral steroid. He explained why the steroid couldn't have come from injection.
"I think it's important to understand that Shelby's urine is more important than anything else in this story," Greene told Fox News. "...Her subsequent test was clean, which means it could not have been an injection. Normally the way anyone would take nandrolone would be by way of injection. It doesn't help you to take it this way. We know Shelby didn't take it this way."
Greene added that Houlihan's urine was "consistent with the consumption of pork that was containing high levels of nandrolone." He said explained this to the drug testing lab before her second sample was tested, but it wasn't accounted for.
"When your urinary markers are where they were for Shelby, in a very, very low range, it is impossible for the machine that does the testing to distinguish between these two," Greene said. "There's a way to do this, called an atypical finding. That's what we think should have been done in Shelby's case and it wasn't."
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/2021/06/16/shelby-houlihan-nandrolone-burrito-pork-meat-suspension-runner-olympics-sioux-city-iowa-steroid-drug/7713749002/
The Iowa native wrote on social media that she was provisionally banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit after testing positive for nandrolone, which has been found in pork.
"We're trying to seek every option that we can to appeal this," Houlihan said in an interview with Fox News. "It's not right. I don't think I should be serving a four-year ban for something that I didn't do. We're trying to exhaust every option that we can."
[h=2]What does Houlihan's suspension mean?[/h]The ban, if upheld, will take Houlihan out of U.S. Olympic Trials this week and the next two Olympics, Tokyo this summer and Paris in 2024. It would also the world championships in Eugene, Ore., in 2022 and and Budapest in 2023.
Houlihan, a 2016 Olympian who finished 11th in the 5,000-meter run, had her eyes trained on a medal-winning performance in Tokyo. She finished fourth in the 1,500-meter run at the 2019 world championships.
[h=2]Houlihan tested positive for nandrolone. What is it?[/h]Nandrolone is a "synthetic, anabolic steroid," according to the National Library of Medicine, and is similar to testosterone. It can help increase nitrogen retention and fat-free muscle mass.
"I want to be very clear," Houlihan wrote on Instagram. "I have never taking any performance enhancing substances. And that includes that of which I am being accused. I believe in the sport and pushing your body to the limit just to see where the limit is. I'm not interested in cheating. I don't do this for the accolades, money, or for people to know my name. I do this because I love it. I have so much fun doing it and it's always the best part of my day."
[h=2]Houlihan thinks a pork burrito led to her failed test[/h]She believes the nandrolone came from pork in a burrito. Houlihan said she appealed the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and was informed that it did not accept her explanation.
"From what I've been told, pig offal has high concentrations of nandrolone," Houlihan told Fox News. "This food truck that I happened to go to that night (before the test) — I've eaten there a lot before — this food truck serves pig offal as part of their menu. I happened to ingest this hormone, and 10 hours later at the peak of when it's supposed to be in your body while you're digesting it, I happened to get tested. Honestly, it's a very unlucky series of events. I'm kind of blown away by what happened."
[h=2]Houlihan is a Sioux City, Iowa, native and won four state titles as a senior[/h]Houlihan graduated from Sioux City East in 2011, capping one of Iowa's most dominant high school track and field and cross country careers in history.
In the fall of her senior year, Houlihan won the 2010 cross country state championship. Then in the spring, she snagged three state titles in track — the 400, 800, and 1,500-meter runs. Thanks to her senior season, Houlihan was named the 2010-11 Gatorade Iowa Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
Houlihan also recorded eight Drake Relays titles while in high school.
[h=2]Houlihan and her team plan to appeal the suspension[/h]In her appearance on Fox News, Houlihan and her lawyer Paul Greene said the plan to appeal her suspension.
"I'm putting all my trust in the process," Houlihan said. "I've tried to so far, and honestly, it's failed me. But I'm going to keep trusting that the truth will come out and I'll be able to compete in the coming years. I think I'm going to miss the trials this year, unfortunately, when I've worked really hard and I'm in the best shape of my life right now. I'm trying to trust the process and hope that I can get justice from this."
[h=2]Lawyer: Houlihan's subsequent drug test was clean[/h]Greene said there are only two explanations for the positive drug test: foodborne contamination or an oral steroid. He explained why the steroid couldn't have come from injection.
"I think it's important to understand that Shelby's urine is more important than anything else in this story," Greene told Fox News. "...Her subsequent test was clean, which means it could not have been an injection. Normally the way anyone would take nandrolone would be by way of injection. It doesn't help you to take it this way. We know Shelby didn't take it this way."
Greene added that Houlihan's urine was "consistent with the consumption of pork that was containing high levels of nandrolone." He said explained this to the drug testing lab before her second sample was tested, but it wasn't accounted for.
"When your urinary markers are where they were for Shelby, in a very, very low range, it is impossible for the machine that does the testing to distinguish between these two," Greene said. "There's a way to do this, called an atypical finding. That's what we think should have been done in Shelby's case and it wasn't."
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/2021/06/16/shelby-houlihan-nandrolone-burrito-pork-meat-suspension-runner-olympics-sioux-city-iowa-steroid-drug/7713749002/
