USADA chief: Salazar used athletes as ‘laboratory animals’
Top coach Alberto Salazar, banned for four years following a doping probe, used athletes as “laboratory animals,” the US Anti-Doping Agency’s chief Travis Tygart said Wednesday.
The World Athletics Championships, currently taking place in Doha, was rocked by the scandal on Tuesday and Salazar, 61, was stripped of his accreditation.
The former top marathon runner has denied ever doping his athletes and vowed to appeal.
However, Tygart told German broadcaster ZDF that athletes in Salazar’s Nike-backed Oregon Project (NOP) training group and the last team to qualify for the tournament was always going to be measured by a high score, and the New Zealanders poured eight tries, plus a penalty try, through a defense that missed 46 tackles.
After a first half that turned messy in humid conditions under the Oita Dome, New Zealand sent on replacement scrumhalf Brad Weber and midfielder Ryan Crotty to tidy up the attack, and they turned it on, being ruthlessly entertaining.
Winger Rieko Ioane, trying to find the form to become a regular starter again, glided in for his 24th try in 27 tests after a Jordie Barrett catch and were kept in the dark about the substances they were given, including whether they were illegal or not.
He pointed out that “no athlete currently at the World Championships in Doha is concerned.”
“You must understand that the athletes really had no idea what was going on with them, what was being given to them,” Tygart said in a interview broadcast Wednesday. “What dosage, whether the methods were forbidden or not, they didn’t even know.”
The investigations that led to Salazar’s four-year suspension relate to the years from 2010 to 2014. Tygart cited examples of athletes being treated like Sonny Bill Williams break. There followed four more tries in the next 16 minutes for New Zealand to rocket to from 28-0 at halftime to 63-0. One of the tries went to lock Scott Barrett, who joined his brothers Beauden and Jordie as try-scorers, supplementing their milestone as the “laboratory animals.”
“An athlete was even told she needed medication for a myoma (a tumor of the uterus), even though she didn’t have a myoma at all,” said Tygart.
“They lied to the athletes and did their medical experiments on them in the NOP.”
The anti-doping specialist claims athletes “were simply sent to the doctor and they were told they must listen to and trust him.” Tygart gave an insight into the investigations after 10 athletes from the Oregon Project helped USADA investigators.
“All of them provided us with their medical evaluations,” Tygart said. “We found out they were fake and false information was added after we officially requested it.” The 48-year-old says the environment created within the project “tried to hide everything” and Tygart directly attacked sporting goods giant Nike.
“I hope Nike now sees this as a wake-up call,” he said.
“They can’t find any excuses anymore, they have to admit that experiments were done on athletes in their name and on their premises, and that that was just wrong.”
Nike has vowed to back Salazar, saying the USADA sanction “had nothing to do with administering banned substances to any Oregon Project athlete.” second trio of brothers to play in the Rugby World Cup after the Vunipola brothers of Tonga in 1995. There was no more scoring through the last quarter, but only because the pace the All Blacks were playing at was too quick for even themselves, and passes were knocked on or forward to let the Canadians off the hook. Dominating almost every category and making most of the running, the All Blacks made 15 handling errors. But they made 24 breaks to Canada’s three, and 94 carries over the gain-line to Canada’s 29.