Frustrated Farah insists ‘I’m clean’ amid new claims over his coach
Sir Mo Farah insists he is “a clean athlete who has never broken the rules” after fresh allegations were published about his coach Alberto Salazar.
The American coach has again found himself at the centre of doping allegations after a report from the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA), which was leaked to the Sunday Times, alleged he may have abused prescription medicines and drug infusions.
“It’s deeply frustrating that I’m having to make an announcement on this subject,” said four-time Olympic champion Farah.
“I am a clean athlete who has never broken the rules in regards to substances, methods or dosages and it is upsetting that some parts of the media, despite the clear facts, continue to try to associate me with allegations of drug misuse.”
0 Mo Farah: Critical of media
The leaked report states that Salazar gave six leading US runners intravenous drip infu- sions which “almost certainly” broke anti-doping rules. It says athletes were given infusions of L-carnitine, a naturallyproduced amino acid prescribed as a supplement for heart and muscle disorders. It is not a banned substance for athletes, but infusions of more than 50 millilitres in the space of six hours are prohibited.
The Sunday Times says that the USADA report contains allegations that Salazar gave athletes, including Farah, prescription drugs they had no medicalneedforinordertoaid performance. For Farah, the newspaper says, this included potentially dangerous doses of permitted vitamin D medication to boost his testosterone levels and that Farah’s British doctors intervened over concerns for his health.
It also reportedly says Farah was given an infusion of L-carnitine shortly before his London marathon debut in 2014 from medical staff at UK Athletics, who were advised by Salazar and his staff. Cameron Bryce’s men’s team had to settle for fourth place in the World Junior Championships when they lost the bronze medal game 10-3 to Norway in Gangneung, Korea, writes Mike Haggerty.
At the same time, Korea beat USA by 5-4 in the gold medal game to take their first world title.
The Scottish men went into the break 9-1 down and could not recover. They conceded after eight ends.
On Saturday, Sophie Jackson’s women’s team lost out on gold, going down 10-7 to Sweden, and having to settle for silver medals. Canada beat Korea for bronze.