In January 2021, Olympic track athlete and American record holder in the 1,500 meters, Shelby Houlihan, was banned from the sport (1). She tested positive for a steroid called nandrolone in an out-of-competition test. Houlihan adamantly denied doping, claiming she had never heard of nandrolone. But unable to prove contamination or accidental ingestion, Houlihan was banned for four years — a period that saw her miss two Olympics, forfeit her sponsorship, and be removed from her livelihood at the peak of her career (2).
Now in 2025, Houlihan is newsworthy again. Her ban ended, and she has returned to the top of the sport (3) — a fact that has provoked mixed reactions from competitors and fans, based largely on whether or not they believe her claims of innocence. Houlihan’s return has also generated conversations about testing methods, the length of doping sanctions, and how competitors and fans might comport themselves around those previously banned.
Shelby Houlihan (right) competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: Shutterstock
Motivations to Cheat
Regardless of whether Houlihan doped (4), many runners do. This is an uneasy fact about sports — that people cheat. At the time of this article’s writing, the Athletics Integrity Unit’s Global List of Ineligible Persons (banned athletes) is 635 people long, and these were just the athletes who were caught (5).
At the highest levels of the sport, motivations to cheat are typically apparent. Athletes vie for contracts in crowded markets, and commercial incentives are tethered to performance outcomes. Elite athletes also often have large social platforms, and they can feel driven to perform for these people — to win at any cost, to maintain their relevance. These reasons do not justify cheating behaviors. But — particularly in situations of financial necessity — it is clear why an athlete might be motivated to cheat.
The more interesting question is why age group athletes and other serious, but nonprofessional, athletes might do the same (6). Why might someone cheat, absent the pressures of sponsorship or financial constraints? What would motivate them to do so? I think there are at least three reasons.
1. Normlessness
One of my first ultramarathon races was held on a looped course. This meant, unlike on a point-to-point course, there was significant interaction among participants from the front to the back of the field throughout the event. It was wonderful.
At one point during the race, I slowed down a bit, struggling with a sore shin. A man approached me and offered one of his prescription painkillers to alleviate the pain. I said no. I was shown too many cautionary videos in middle school health class to be unaware that I should not accept drugs from strangers.
This was a startling experience. While this man was violating World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) rules, he was doing so from kindness. When I think about doping, I often imagine people intentionally and maliciously taking drugs. I think of bad actors trying to get an edge, not prosocial gestures from kind, if ill-informed, strangers.
I am sure there are plenty of bad actors in the sport, motivated by greed or malice. But what I realized that day was that some people are unaware of the norms and responsibilities of anti-doping. They lack an education concerning clean sport expectations and are “normless” in that respect. If we want to clean up the sport, we need to dedicate more time to educating all runners about cheating.
2. Identity
Like many runners, I use the mileage-recording social media platform, Strava. At the end of the year, Strava sends subscribers a Year-in-Review summary, totaling the mileage and hours logged over the past 365 days. I always have mixed feelings when I receive these summaries — delight in examining annual statistics and misgivings about the time I spent in sneakers. Training is a large time investment. All those little runs add up.
This is a second reason why doping is not just a professional runner problem. Running is a significant time investment for anyone who regularly participates. We tend to care about it. It shapes our identities — in good and bad ways.
I can see any runner wanting to make good on that investment by cutting corners and trying to maximize outcomes. Just because a runner does not compete in running as a profession does not make them immune to wanting to perform at the highest level possible, through whatever means possible.
The time that runners invest in training can contribute to the temptation to bend the rules. Photo: iRunFar/Ezster Horanyi
3. Optimization
I have previously written about the pitfalls of the optimization culture in sport — fixating one’s attention on the pursuit of maximizing physical outcomes. For good and for ill, we are in an optimization era of running. Runners are experimenting with sodium bicarbonate and consuming exogenous ketones. We are comparing supershoes, consuming high-carbohydrate gels, and exploring the differences in training stimulus resulting from sustained efforts versus double-threshold workouts.
Much of this is progress and a natural part of how sports unfold through history. And none of the interventions I listed is banned. Regardless, I wonder whether some of the more “gray area” optimization interventions will provide a bridge to doping behaviors.
It is easy to see you are doing something blameworthy when you compare “taking a drug” with “taking no drugs.” It is probably easier to explain away, or to convince yourself that it is ok, to violate norms when the difference is between “taking an acceptable drug that provides an edge but that everyone says is ok” with “taking this other drug that is banned but has similar constructive impacts on my training.” The line in the sand between “good” and “bad” has become wiggly and fuzzier.
Again, the interventions I described are not illicit. But I can see how optimization interventions might provide an explanatory bridge to taking illicit substances.
Optimization interventions such as reliance on permitted supplements might provide an explanatory bridge to taking illicit substances. Photo: Shutterstock
Final Thoughts
There are likely many reasons why people dope, at all levels of competition. Many are tied to identity and pride. But I also think our sport has space to improve with respect to educating participants about what, exactly, constitutes cheating. And I worry about the new emphasis on optimization — that it may result in increased instances of athletes crossing lines.
Call for Comments (From the Editors)
We welcome dialogue in the comments section in line with iRunFar’s comment policy, which exists to help facilitate challenging conversations constructively. Comments not adhering to this policy are subject to redaction or removal. Thank you!
- Do you feel that doping is a significant problem in amateur sport?
- What else do you think can be done to combat this?
References/Notes
- Kumar, A. 16 June 2021. “Shelby Houlihan ban: Have other athletes successfully used the meat defense to plead their case?” ESPN. Web <https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/31640520/shelby-houlihan-ban-other-athletes-successfully-used-meat-defense-plead-their-case> Accessed 1 March 2025.
- Ingle, S. 1 September 2021. “Cas says ‘close to zero’ probability burrito led to Shelby Houlihan’s failed drugs test.” The Guardian. Web <https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/01/cas-say-close-to-zero-probability-shelby-houlihan-failed-drugs-test-due-to-burrito> Accessed 1 March 2025.
- Mull, C. 16 January 2025. “Olympian Shelby Houlihan Is Returning To The Track After A Four-Year Ban. Here’s What to Know.” Forbes. Web <https://www.forbes.com/sites/corymull/2025/01/16/olympian-shelby-houlihan-is-returning-to-the-track-after-a-four-year-ban-heres-what-to-know/> Accessed 1 March 2025.
- I have no privileged information about this case or interest in assessing whether this athlete was guilty. But I do think the conversation around cheating is necessary for keeping the sport intact.
- Global List of Ineligible Persons. 1 January 2025. Athletics Integrity Unit. Web <https://www.athleticsintegrity.org/downloads/pdfs/disciplinary-process/en/Global-List-JAN_25.pdf > Accessed 4 January 2025.
- See S. Usborne. 1 June 2016. “Dope and glory: the rise of cheating in amateur sport.” The Guardian. Web <https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/01/dope-and-glory-the-rise-of-cheating-in-amateur-sport> Accessed 1 March 2025. See also Why Age Groupers Cheat. 6 February 2020. Triathlete Magazine. Web <https://www.triathlete.com/culture/age-groupers-cheat/> Accessed 1 March 2025.
