Doping casts a shadow on US world trials

EUGENE, United States: Doping allegations against coach Alberto Salazar and his top US runner, 2012 London Olympic 10,000-meter runnerup Galen Rupp, loom large as the US Track and Field Championships begin Thursday.

Athletes will be competing for spots on the US squad that will compete at the world championships in August at Beijing, with Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin -- two sprint stars who have served doping bans -- battling to position themselves to challenge defending champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica for 100 and 200 world titles in China in two months.

A BBC documentary earlier this month in collaboration with the ProPublica website accused Salazar, also the coach of British 10,000 Olympic champion Mo Farah, of violating anti-doping rules, with claims Salazar doped Rupp in 2002 with the anabolic steroid testosterone when Rupp was only 16.

Salazar, based at the Nike camp in nearby Portland, was worked with Rupp for 14 years and his training partner Farah since 2011.

The report says Salazar encouraged using prescription medications for thyroid and asthma that were not needed for a competitive edge and abuse of the therapeutic use exemption rule where athletes can get approval to utilize otherwise banned medications.

Both Salazar and Rupp have denied any wrongdoing but they figure to draw attention at this week’s meet at Hayward Field, the University of Oregon track where the Rio de Janeiro Olympic team will be decided next year and world spots are up for grabs this week.

“I would think that any of this black cloud, so to speak, will be overshadowed by all of the positives that are going on and will happen this week,” Vin Lananna, Rupp’s former coach at Oregon, told the Eugene Register-Guard. - AFP