Athletics-'Devastated' Houlihan maintains innocence after four-year doping ban

FILE PHOTO: Athletics - Diamond League - Pontaise Stadium, Lausanne, Switzerland - July 5, 2018 Shelby Houlihan of the U.S. wins the Women's 1500m REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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 1,500m and 5,000m 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 (WADA) test showed an "adverse analytical finding" for nandrolone.