BLACK AXED

Coach pays price for backing Salazar

NEIL BLACK will leave his role as UK Athletics performance director at the end of this month, paying the price for backing shamed American coach Alberto Salazar.

Black’s position was weakened further by the national team falling short of their medal target at the World Championships in Doha, which ended on Sunday.

Last week, Salazar was banned for four years for doping- related offences. Black had been influential in arranging for Mo Farah to move to train with Salazar in 2011.

On top of that, Black gave Farah the green light to continue working with Salazar four years ago, despite a damning BBC Panorama documentary into the practices of the Nike Oregon Project, with the official calling Salazar a ‘genius’.

The statement issued yesterday said: ‘UK Athletics have announced that Neil Black will leave his role as performance director at the end of October. Neil will commence a detailed handover with performance staff until his departure and will fulfil his role supporting Mo Farah at this weekend’s Chicago marathon.’

It brings to an end Black’s seven-year tenure. It is not yet clear how Barry Fudge, the head of endurance who also had close links to Salazar, will fare in a UKA review into the US Anti- Doping Agency’s findings on Salazar. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Black, Fudge or Farah.

Black’s departure comes just nine months before the Tokyo Olympics. He will leave a mixed legacy, having attracted serious criticism, particularly from the nation’s coaches. Trained as a physio, Black was seen as having favoured medals over strong coaching infrastructure.

Athletes have also complained about the sport’s medical set-up and funding decisions. For instance, it was glaring in Doha that the best male sprinter, Adam Gemili, was not on individual funding.

Other issues have been even harder to understand. Having a shot putter named to run in the 4x400metres relay at the European Team Championships lent a touch of farce, while Black’s rejection of IAAF invites for some athletes to the World Championships went down badly.

Ultimately, though, the position over Salazar made his position untenable. By missing the medal target in Doha, Black evidently had nowhere to go but out.