I'm not sure how many of you have been following this story (my guess is not many), but the drug allegations swirling around Alberto Salazar and his runners just keeps getting stranger. And with each passing day, as more and more people speak out, you get the feeling that these aren't simply accusations. As each new piece of evidence surfaces, it looks more and more that Salazar has to be guilty of something.
Now, how much of what's being said is true is definitely open for debate. The only people who know that for sure are Salazar and the athletes he works with. But when you have runners who used to work with Salazar coming out with detailed stories of how he, at the very least, asked them to bend the rules, you know it's more than just the media digging. At least some of this definitely has to be true.
While I don't know Alberto Salazar personally, I have met him a few times. That's not enough to form a judgment about a man, but it didn't really do anything to change my opinion of him either. I'm not really Salazar's biggest fan. He comes off as somebody who'll do anything to win, even if it means rubbing people the wrong way, and he did nothing to change my impression of him. A number of people I know who know Salazar a lot better than I do have no issues with him, and I'm sure I wouldn't either if I knew him as well as they did. But he definitely strikes me as someone who wants to get his own way and will ruffle whatever feathers he needs to in order to get it.
A perfect example of this was at last year's USA Indoor Championships. Just like next week's U.S. Outdoor Nationals will determine the team for the World Championships in August, the U.S. Indoor Championships is the selection meet for World Indoors in even years. The top two in each event qualified for Worlds and one of Salazar's athletes, Jordan Hasay, finished third in the women's 5000 meters. There was minor contact between Hasay and Gabriele Gruenewald (who made the team by finishing second) early in the last lap, but not enough for a disqualification.
However, shortly after the race, Gruenewald was disqualified, moving Hasay up to second and on the team. More than one observer noticed that Salazar was in the officials' tent as they were discussing his protest, a clear violation of the rules. Salazar's influence was obvious and many found the DQ highly questionable. (I though the contact was initiated by Hasay, so if anyone should've been DQed, in my opinion, it should've been her.) The reaction was harsh, especially since it gave the impression that USA Track & Field was letting Nike, its biggest sponsor and Salazar's employer, pick the team. The end result in all this, by the way, was that Salazar withdrew his protest a couple days later and Gruenewald was reinstated, even though there was no grounds for doing that either.
That story can be interpreted a couple ways. For those (like me) that took Gruenewald's side, it was just another example of Salazar's shadiness. It also showed just how flawed some of USA Track & Field's policies can be and that changes are desperately needed in some areas. The inherent conflict of interest involving Nike, which is USATF's biggest sponsor, but also sponsors a good number of elite athletes, was also brought to the forefront.
Like him or not, there's one thing about Alberto Salazar that can't be denied. He's a hell of a coach. It's because of Salazar that the U.S. has become a major player in the distance events. In recent years, we've seen the Americans become major medal contenders at the World Championships and Olympics, threatening to break the Kenyan/Ethiopian stranglehold in the longer distances. It's not just sprinting and field events anymore. And a lot of the credit for that goes to Alberto Salazar's athletes.
Two of his athletes are the ones that have gotten Salazar into trouble, though. He works with Mo Farah, who became a British national hero with his 5000-10,000 double at the London Olympics. Salazar has also worked with Galen Rupp, Farah's training partner who took second behind him in the 10,000 in London, since Rupp was in high school. Farah evidently missed two drug tests before the Olympics. A third would've gotten him banned. But it's the stuff that's come out about Rupp that has Salazar in some extremely hot water.
According to an investigation by the BBC and the media organization ProPublica, Salazar has been providing Rupp with testosterone since 2002, when Rupp was 16! Testosterone is obviously a banned substance, and WADA rules have stipulated since 2003 that giving it to someone that young could make you subject to a lifetime ban (there's a 10-year statute of limitations and it predates the rules, so Salazar evidently can't get a lifetime ban even if he did give Rupp testosterone back then). Other than both denying any wrongdoing, Salazar and Rupp have been mum on the subject.
Then more stories started coming out from a number of different sources. First there was Kara Goucher, who used to train with Salazar. Her claims could easily be dismissed as a disgruntled runner who's upset she got dropped by Salazar and Nike. But then there was Steve Magness, Salazar's former No. 2 at the Nike Oregon Project, who left Nike after the London Olympics and told his story to USADA (the organization that brought down Lance Armstrong) shortly after. Now Lauren Fleshman, another former Nike Oregon Project runner, has detailed how Salazar encouraged her to take medication she didn't need year-round and how she feels "uncomfortable" he's working with young runners like Mary Cain.
To me, the most damning testimony came from massage therapist John Stiner. Stiner said that Salazar told him to keep unmarked vials of a clear liquid in a refrigerator and then FedEx them to him. In addition to the vials, he found a bag containing anywhere between 25 and 50 hypodermic needles in the bathroom. This was all at a Nike-owned apartment in Utah. Salazar's group, as the name suggests, primarily trains in Oregon.
This isn't even close to the end of this story. I'm sure we'll hear much more before it's finally over. That doesn't even include the inevitable investigation by either WADA or the USADA. But this much I do know, the Salazar story is likely going to overshadow the U.S. Nationals next week. And this is also the last thing a sport that's already dealing with doping claims about Russian and Turkish athletes needs.
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