Shelby Houlihan said on Monday she had received a four-year ban for testing positive to an anabolic steroid but the American record holder in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters denied she had knowingly taken a prohibited substance.
Just days before the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials are set to begin, the 28-year-old said in a written statement that the Athletics Integrity Unit informed her in January a World Anti-Doping Agency test showed an "adverse analytical finding" for nandrolone.
Houlihan, who won the 1,500m and 5,000m at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 2019 and was considered a medal contender for the Tokyo Olympics, thought the positive result might have come from eating pork, which she said could lead to a false positive for nandrolone, the night before the test.