Farah leaves Black to find the answers
SiTTinG here in london’s Tobacco Dock yesterday, the head of British athletics once again insisted there was no smoking gun pointing in the direction of sir Mo Farah.
There was no sign of Farah, either. While his British teammates turned out for the final press conferences before the start of the World athletics Championships, the one athlete who has not been made available to the newspapers these past few weeks was actually in another part of the building performing commercial duties for his shoe sponsor.
so it was left to neil Black, the British team performance director and a fiercely-loyal member of Farah’s inner sanctum, to answer some challenging questions about the four-time olympic champion.
athletes of the stature of Martyn Rooney and Dina asher-smith, not to mention team captain Eilidh Doyle, had to simply sit there and listen.
The previous day Rooney had actually ‘ liked’ a tweet from one journalist accusing Farah of ‘selling the sport short’.
But the PR team at Freuds that has advised Farah to limit his media appearances since a leaked iaaF document listed their client as ‘likely doping’ — in fairness, a subsequent document stated the opposite — dared suggest to a PR publication yesterday that he had performed the same media responsibilities as every other British distance runner during the buildup. Which actually isn’t true.
not that Black seemed to mind. The former runner-turned physiotherapist was only too happy to wax lyrical about 34-yearold phenomenon Farah, even if some of the answers he provided were almost comical.
Black was asked specifically about alberto salazar, the american who continues to coach Farah but has chosen not to come to london while he remains at the centre of a united states antiDoping agency investigation.
For instance, had Black seen anything in the 278-page interim usaDa report that was sent to the Texas Medical authority and then leaked by Russian computer hackers? a report that contained evidence of salazar athletes receiving medication they did not actually need, Farah among them.
Black said: ‘it concerns me things get leaked, concerns me things can be and are written in a way which can make things appear bad. it didn’t concern me having known, spoken to, questioned, looked in the eye, there was nothing in the leaked report which was a surprise or shock to me.’
it was an astonishing thing to say. Black must realise any usaDa sanctions against salazar, who denies wrongdoing, would be hugely damaging to Farah, uK athletics and him personally, given his support of the nike oregon Project boss since a BBC Panorama programme made a series of doping allegations two years ago.
‘of course you look people in the eye, and we all do it, and you have to work out and ask the question “do i believe — is there anything that suggests otherwise?”’ said Black. ‘and there is nothing at all that suggests otherwise to me.
‘i understand that if you read information and if you talk to people, it is very easy for people to fall into the trap of seeking fault and blame — talking negatively and building this picture.
‘But i have been with Mo since he was 15 and i have known alberto since Mo moved over there. you get to know people. i am not sure that the facts are always those which are printed.’
Black actually dismissed salazar’s importance in the Farah success story, even if the Briton’s move to oregon in 2011 coincided with a quite incredible transformation. it has seen Farah change from an also-ran to an athlete hoping to secure his 10th consecutive global title when he contests the 10,000m this evening.
That is a staggering statistic and one which means he comfortably eclipses the greatest distance runners of the past.
it mattered not, said Black, that salazar has chosen to stay away from london.
Black once called salazar a genius but yesterday said: ‘The thing which is so special about Mo is he doesn’t need any of us.
‘He can do it himself but he enjoys the fact that people support him, want to work with him and give him direction.
‘He does take on board what everybody says but at the end he makes the decisions, that’s what makes him a special multiple global champion.
‘We never have any concerns over who is here, isn’t here and an indication of a great team is that no-one is indispensable.
‘We all play our roles at different stages but no-one thinks they are so important. Mo doesn’t rely on any of us.’
Whatever the truth, Farah has certainly demonstrated an ability to run, as well as hide, and Black said he is running particularly well of late.
‘ Every year certain things happen where it gets to a point where suddenly Mo knows that he’s ready,’ he confirmed. ‘last year it was the anniversary Games, after a 5k.
‘This year it was probably about 12 days ago. He did something in training without killing himself that confirmed to him and the rest of us that he’s ready.
‘He then takes his shoes off and says “that’s it, job done”. you’ll see something special.’