American track star Shelby Houlihan will not be competing in this summer’s Tokyo Olympics or any other sporting event for the next four years, Sporting News reported
Following a positive testing result for the anabolic steroid Nandrolone, Houlihan has been banned from track competitions for the next four years, according to Sporting News. However, Houlihan has taken to her personal Instagram account to maintain her innocence by placing blame on a burrito that she allegedly ate prior to the drug test. (RELATED: Foreign Spectators Banned From Tokyo Olympics Over Coronovirus Concerns)
Houlihan alleged that the positive test is the result of a burrito containing pig meat purchased from an “authentic Mexican food truck” near her home in Beaverton, Oregon, that she ate nearly 10 hours before the test.
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Houlihan claimed that in January, she received an email from the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) that notified her of the finding, according to Sports Illustrated. Since then, Houlihan learned that it has “been long understood by WADA (World-Anti-Doping-Agency) that eating pork can lead to a false positive for Nandrolone,” a drug that is known to alter muscle mass.
Although the track star challenged the decision of the four-year ban because of the “tainted burrito,” the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) decided to enforce the ban after hearing from Houlihan’s lawyers and the AIU.
The four-year ban is a major blow to Houlihan’s career. Houlihan set the American 1,500-meter record at the world championships in 2019, according to The Sioux City. She also broke the U.S. 5,000-meter mark last July, ESPN reported.
Despite the decision of the AIU to enforce the ban, NBC Sports reported that the founder of Global Sports Advocates, Paul Greene, and several of Houlihan’s teammates are coming to her defense and maintaining her innocence on social media platforms.