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(CNN) – Olympic runner Shelby Houlihan has said she was banned from sports for four years after testing positive for anabolic steroids which she attributes to consuming a pork burrito.
Houlihan said she was devastated to learn of the suspension from the Athletic Integrity Unit (AIU), an independent anti-doping body, after testing positive for nandrolone.
Houlihan said in an Instagram post on Monday that a burrito she ate before the test contained pork organ meat, or offal, which she said may lead to a positive test for nandrolone. A study funded by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found that traces of nandrolone can be found in this type of meat and warned of the possibility of a false positive.
The ban will prevent the 28-year-old from competing in the upcoming US Olympic trials and the Tokyo Olympics. Doping accusations and investigations have led to multiple competition bans of athletes and even entire countries, including a two-year ban on Russia by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The runner said she received an email from AIU on January 14, 2021, informing her that a drug test she took on December 15, 2020 came back positive for nandrolone.
“When I got this email I must have read it a dozen times and google what I had just tested positive for,” she said in the post. “I had never even heard of nandrolone.”
What is nandrolone?
Nandrolone is a synthetic anabolic steroid analog of testosterone, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The NIH says it can be used for testosterone replacement therapy to increase nitrogen retention and fat-free muscle mass.
Houlihan said that after learning the test was positive, she made a diary of everything she ate in the week before the test.
“We concluded that the most likely explanation was a burrito bought and eaten about 10 hours before this drug test at an authentic Mexican food truck that serves pork offal near my home in Beaverton, Oregon,” he said. she declared.
Some pigs produce the chemical naturally, with pork organ meat, or offal, having the highest levels of nandrolone, she said in her article.
Olympic aspirations dashed
Houlihan said he learned on June 11 that his explanation for the positive test had not been accepted by the Arbitration Court, resulting in the four-year ban.
“I feel completely devastated, lost, broken, angry, confused and betrayed by the very sport that I loved and invested in just to see how good I was,” said the runner in his message. “I want to be very clear. I have never taken any performance enhancing substances. And that includes what I am accused of.
Houlihan said she has done everything she can to prove her innocence and return to her beloved sport, including taking a polygraph test and having her hair sampled.
“WADA agreed that the test proved that there was no buildup of this substance in my body, which would have been the case if I had taken it regularly,” Houlihan said.
Houlihan’s coach Jerry Schumacher called on organizations that banned the runner in a statement on Monday, saying IAU and WADA were treating her “unfairly” and preventing her from competing in the Olympics despite the fact that ‘they knew about the pork and nandrolone problem.
IAU told CNN it “applies the World Anti-Doping Code equally to athletes around the world.” The Houlihan case “was heard by a panel of three members of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which made its decision after hearing the testimony and arguments of the athlete’s and IAU’s lawyers”, according to an IAU press release.
CNN has contacted AMA and USA Track and Field for comment.
The coach said he knew Houlihan was innocent and that she “had her whole career taken away for something she didn’t do”.
As for Houlihan, she said the dream she had had since the age of 5 has been ripped off.
“Since I started running at the age of 5, I have dreamed of running professionally, setting records, winning an Olympic gold medal and being one of the best in the world. . I always blindly believed that I was good enough to do these things, ”she said.
Now that she’s accused of doping, the runner has doubled down on her love of the sport.
“I believe in sports and push your body to the limit just to see where the line is. I’m not interested in cheating, ”she said. “I’m not doing this for the accolades, the money, or for people to know my name. I do this because I like it. I have so much fun doing it and it is always the best part of my day.
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