Thank you for writing this. I haven't read any of the MSRM (mainstream running media) takes yet, only Letsrun (which led me 10:1 odds that she's guilty), but the apparent hypocrisy (compared to Salazar's takedown) is striking. I read Shalane Flanagan's Insta post, and it was just odd to me. I remember defending both Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong against people who claimed they must be doping. I've learned that it doesn't matter how impassioned and sincere the denials nor how apparently good a person the perceived doper. Now I just wonder if the remaining athletes I cheered for, Paula Radcliffe, for example, were dopers as well. Regarding Houlihan, it seems entirely credible that she might dope. What would make her above it? How would Flanagan know she was innocent? Why would Flanagan lay her own reputation on the line? She's a new coach; I don't hold her responsible for Houlihan's cheating.
One thing I don't understand is who these AIU people are and why they are testing people in addition to the USADA and WADA. Would the other athletes that have gotten off in the US have gotten bans if they'd been accused by the AIU rather than USADA?
Thank you for writing this. I haven't read any of the MSRM (mainstream running media) takes yet, only Letsrun (which led me 10:1 odds that she's guilty), but the apparent hypocrisy (compared to Salazar's takedown) is striking. I read Shalane Flanagan's Insta post, and it was just odd to me. I remember defending both Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong against people who claimed they must be doping. I've learned that it doesn't matter how impassioned and sincere the denials nor how apparently good a person the perceived doper. Now I just wonder if the remaining athletes I cheered for, Paula Radcliffe, for example, were dopers as well. Regarding Houlihan, it seems entirely credible that she might dope. What would make her above it? How would Flanagan know she was innocent? Why would Flanagan lay her own reputation on the line? She's a new coach; I don't hold her responsible for Houlihan's cheating.
One thing I don't understand is who these AIU people are and why they are testing people in addition to the USADA and WADA. Would the other athletes that have gotten off in the US have gotten bans if they'd been accused by the AIU rather than USADA?