Shelby Houlihan, a U.S. track and field athlete and Olympic hopeful, blames a burrito for a positive steroid test that led to her receiving a four-year ban.
The specific substance Houlihan tested positive for is nandrolone. Nandrogen is a steroid that helps to build muscle.
However, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the same organization that dinged Houlihan with the positive test in December, says that eating pork products can sometimes lead to positive nandrolone tests.
Houlihan believes that it was, in fact, a pork burrito purchased from a food truck the night before her test that led to the positive result.
“I feel completely devastated, lost, broken, angry, confused, and betrayed by the very sport that I loved and poured myself into just to see how good I was,” Houlihan said. on Instagram. “I want to be very clear: I’ve never taken any performance-enhancing substances and that includes the one of which I have been accused.”
“I feel completely devastated, lost, broken, angry, confused and betrayed by the very sport that I loved and poured myself into just to see how good I was,” Houlihan said. “I want to be very clear: I’ve never taken any performance-enhancing substances and that includes the one of which I have been accused.”
“Houlihan appealed the initial ruling by the Athletics Integrity Unit, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport told her Friday it did not accept her explanation,” the New York Post reports.
“I’ve always wanted to stand at the top of an Olympic podium with a gold medal around my neck, knowing I did that, and now I am not sure that will ever happen,” Houlihan wrote on Instagram.
The U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials are less than a week away, putting Houlihan’s chances of competing in the 2024 Olympics in serious jeopardy.