Farah still running away from the tough questions
MO FARAH is still running. He is running away from any notion that he might have played it differently, and quickly towards the idea that it has all been a media conspiracy.
In the function room of a Chicago hotel yesterday, he had a sufficient chance to take a deep breath, to offer a more considered view of the verdict that the mastermind of his success committed doping offences. He had a chance to put distance between himself and the dark cloud that has followed him for four years. But no.
In his first public appearance since the Alberto Salazar bomb dropped, he deflected and deferred, and attacked. He kept to his old narratives, seemingly oblivious to how the ground under his feet has softened in the 11 days since his former coach was banned for four years.
He spoke of ‘allegations’ against Salazar, not the ruling of guilt established in two years of arbitration hearings; he spoke of sinister media ‘agendas’ against him; he spoke of it being Salazar’s fight and not his.
And somehow, he managed to sidestep the point repeatedly, which is that it was perhaps questionable to spend a further two years with Salazar after the BBC’s
Panorama shone a light on the practices of the Nike Oregon Project in 2015.
But before all that — before discussing his decisions and before discussing yesterday’s closure of the Oregon Project by Nike — he wanted to talk about running in tomorrow’s Chicago Marathon. ‘I’m here to race,’ he said, over and again. ‘Let’s just ask five questions about the race before we come back to that.’
He always was ambitious. And yesterday, he was aggressive too, once he got on to the subject.
‘Let’s get on to it,’ he said. ‘It is very disappointing to see you guys going at it again and again. The headline is Farah, Farah, Farah. There is no allegation against me. I’ve not done anything wrong. Let’s be clear — these allegations are about Alberto Salazar and the Oregon Project. I feel let down by you guys, to be honest.’
But surely, he would feel more let down by Salazar, under whom he spent six years from 2011 and was transformed from a fringe contender into a winner of 10 straight global titles, including four Olympic gold medals? What followed was the first of numerous evasive answers.
‘If I talk to you guys and be nice to you, you’ll still be negative. Either way, I can’t win, you’ve already made up your mind about what you’re going to write.’
Another attempt: Mo, are you disappointed by Salazar, have you been tainted by association?
‘I am disappointed that you guys make it into the headlines,’ he said. ‘It is not about Mo Farah, it is about Alberto Salazar. Only Alberto can answer that.’ Except Farah can answer. He can give a view on a coach who was found guilty of trafficking testosterone, of attempting to tamper with the doping control process, and administering a prohibited method of infusion.
He can give the view of an athlete who has to live in the shade of a coach’s guilty verdict.
But he didn’t. The closest he came was in reviewing a conversation in 2015, when Salazar protested his innocence in the face of allegations.
‘I flew to Portland to get some answers with Alberto,’ Farah said. ‘He assured me at the time these are just allegations. This is not true, there’s no allegation against you Mo, and he promised me. And that hasn’t been true.’
That was as far as Farah would go against Salazar. It must be pointed out that despite the US Anti-Doping Agency’s efforts, there was no finding that any of Salazar’s odd practices — including putting testosterone on his sons in an effort to find out how much would trigger a positive test — were done to enhance the athletes’ performances.
But the findings still threw up enough of a cloud that Nike yesterday shut the doors of the Oregon Project. To Farah, though, the issue is more to do with the media. ‘I am happy to be tested any time and anywhere and for my samples to be used for whatever they need to do.
‘There is a clear agenda to this. I have seen this many times. I have seen it with Raheem Sterling, with Lewis Hamilton. I cannot win, whatever I do.’
He admitted he hadn’t read the full findings of USADA’s report. He also said he was unaware until the guilty finding that Salazar had even been charged and appeared unsure if he was saddened that the Oregon Project had closed.
‘It is not my decision to shut down the Oregon Project, it is a Nike decision. That is Nike, not me, I am Mo Farah.’ Yes, he is. And he is still running.