US anti-doping agency confirms dossier on athletics guru

LOS ANGELES: The United States AntiDoping Agency (USADA) confirmed it had compiled a dossier on controversial coach Alberto Salazar following a report accusing the athletics guru of dangerously using drugs to boost the performance of his athletes.

Britain’s Sunday Times said a USADA report – obtained by the Fancy Bears hacking group – had found Salazar abused prescription drugs and experimented with infusions of a research supplement based on the amino acid L-carnitine at his Oregon base.

The newspaper said it had seen documents showing Salazar, who coaches Britain’s fourtime Olympic champion Mo Farah, give intravenous drip infusions to Farah and to half a dozen top US runners and that USADA had concluded the treatments of the Americans “almost certainly” broke anti-doping rules.

However, USADA said on Saturday that no conclusion had been reached.

“USADA can confirm that it has prepared a report in response to a subpoena from a state medical licensing body regarding care given by a physician to athletes associated with the Nike Oregon Project,” USADA said in a statement on Saturday.

“It appears that a draft of this report was leaked to the Sunday Times by the Russian state-affiliated hacker group known as Fancy Bears.

“We understand that the licensing body is still deciding its case and as we continue to investigate whether anti-doping rules were broken, no further comment will be made at this time.”

L-carnitine is found naturally in the body and is also prescribed as a supplement for heart and muscle disorders. — AFP