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Distance runner Shelby Houlihan has been banned from exercising for four years after she tested positive for an anabolic steroid, and she blames a burrito.
Houlihan, the current national champion and record holder in both the 1,500m and 5,000m, wrote on Instagram on Monday that she had been banned for four years after testing positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid.
She said the “most likely explanation” for the positive test was “a burrito that was purchased and consumed approximately 10 hours before the drug test from an original Mexican food truck.”
Shelby Houlihan: I feel utterly devastated
Houlihan said she was initially banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit, and that she has appealed the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. She was told on Friday that although nandrolone had previously been found in pork, she had not accepted her appeal.
“I feel utterly devastated, lost, broken, angry, confused, and betrayed by the same sport I loved, and hurt myself just to see how good I was,” Houlihan wrote, in part.
“I want to be very clear. I’ve never taken any performance-enhancing substances. This includes what I’m accused of. I believe in sports and pushing your body to the limits just to see where the limit is. I’m not interested in cheating. I don’t do this for prizes or money or So people know my name. I do this because I love it. I really enjoy doing it and it’s always the best part of my day.”
Houlihan also said she passed a lie detector test and sent a sample of her hair to “the world’s most eminent toxicologists.”
Although her excuse sounds silly in her face — she blames the burrito, after all — Houlihan said the steroid levels in her system were consistent with people in the studies who ate the same source of meat she ate before the test, not from someone who was taking them regularly.
“[The World Anti-Doping Agency] I agreed that the test demonstrated that there was no accumulation of this substance in my body, which would have happened if I had been taking it regularly,” I wrote, in part. “Nothing moves the testers from their initial quick decision. Instead, they simply concluded that I was a cheater and that the steroid was taken orally, but not regularly. I think my explanation fits the facts better – because it’s true. I also believe it was rejected without due process of law.”
The story continues
Houlihan, 28, competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, her first game. She was widely considered the favorite to compete for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics next month as well. The Iowa-born player set the American record of 5,000m last year when she finished the race in just 14:23.92, and set the record in the 1,500m at the world championships in Qatar in 2019.
Shelby Houlihan crosses the finish line to win the women’s 1500m final during the 2020 Toyota USATF Indoor Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center on February 15, 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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