Muir does a U-turn over link to Salazar
LAURA MUIR moved to protect her reputation last night by dumping the Nike Oregon Project coach she had just hired. The British 1,500metres record-holder was left stunned by the fall-out following Sportsmail’s revelation yesterday that she had chosen to associate herself with the Nike Oregon Project when the Alberto Salazar-run organisation remains at the centre of a United States Anti-Doping Agency investigation. At a time when the Scot is trying to complete her degree, Muir clearly had not properly considered the consequences of working with David McHenry when she met him for the first time in Glasgow in February and for a second time in Birmingham last
month. While McHenry has never featured in any of the allegations being investigated by USADA, he has been at the Nike Oregon Project since 2005 and their lead strength and conditioning coach since 2011. It left Muir open to accusations of hypocrisy when she and her coach, Andy Young, were publicly critical of Genzebe Dibaba for her own association with a coach also being investigated by the anti-doping authorities. To Muir’s credit, the first whiff of controversy has convinced her to act. It took more than two-and-ahalf years for Mo Farah to split with Salazar after the allegations against Salazar first surfaced in 2015. Muir took less than 24 hours. Last night she posted a tweet saying: ‘At a busy time in my life, with my degree coming to a critical stage and my running career going so well, I need to minimise distractions and stresses to allow me to focus on my athletics and studies. I have no concerns about Dave McHenry and was hugely impressed when I met him, but after some reflection we have decided not to start working with him as planned and not to pursue this relationship further.’ The move is sure to embarrass UK Athletics bosses, who confirmed yesterday that they had endorsed Muir’s decision to work with McHenry by agreeing to pay some of her costs to be coached by the former American college football star. Indeed, Sportsmail can reveal that Farah is back working with McHenry, with UK Athletics paying towards costs for him as well. McHenry was a key member of Farah’s team when he was based in Portland, working with him as often as three times a week. Sources close to Farah insisted yesterday he is using McHenry purely on an independent basis as he prepares for this month’s London Marathon. For Muir it was a new relationship but one that caused consternation in the sport, with senior figures stunned by associating with Salazar’s training group. As former Oregon Project coach and whistleblower Steve Magness tweeted: ‘You are who you associate with. Is your reputation worth it? Choose wisely.’ UK Athletics confirmed yesterday that they were contributing to costs for McHenry on behalf of both Muir and Farah. Officials explained that they have a separate performance budget to cover such costs at their discretion, with UK Sport confirming that paying an American coach does not breach their policies even though strength and conditioning coaches are employed in the UK system. Officials at Nike-sponsored UK Athletics have done little to distance themselves from the Nike Oregon Project. Senior figures were seen engaging with Salazar last month. Salazar has denied any wrongdoing since the allegations of doping violations first emerged in a joint investigation by the BBC and ProPublica in 2015. Yesterday, Muir initially attempted to play down McHenry’s involvement with the Nike Oregon Project by posting a jokey tweet that referred to the specialist only as one of ‘Nike’s (and the world’s) top strength and conditioning experts’. By last night, however, the relationship had been terminated.