THE KEY QUESTIONS
WHAT IS THE NIKE OREGON PROJECT?
THE Nike Oregon Project (NOP) was founded in 2001 by Alberto Salazar and has been a training base for top American and international distance runners including Sir Mo Farah and Galen Rupp. Farah was the first athlete who had trained at NOP to win an Olympic title, at London 2012, but left in 2017 after six years with the programme. Currently there are 12 athletes at NOP, including Sifan Hassan, who won the women’s world 10,000 metres last weekend.
WHAT IS SALAZAR GUILTY OF?
AN investigation by an independent panel has found Salazar to have committed three doping violations:
‘Administration of a Prohibited Method’ — this relates to an infusion of L-carnitine, a naturally occurring amino acid that helps convert fat into energy. It was given to former NOP coach Steve Magness in 2011. The infusion exceeded the permitted limit of 50ml every six hours, so breached doping rules.
‘Tampering and/or attempted tampering with NOP athletes’ doping control process’ — in an email in 2012, Salazar told athletes who had received infusions (which he testifies were within the permitted limit) that they did not need to declare injections or infusions to drug testers. He had wrongly based this on advice from USADA about an iron infusion.
‘Trafficking and/or Attempted Trafficking of testosterone’ — In 2009, Salazar’s sons were guinea pigs in an experiment to discover the quantity of testosterone gel that could be applied to an athlete before it triggered a positive test. Salazar claimed this was in response to concerns over sabotage.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR FARAH?
FARAH, who trained at the NOP from 2011-17, has not been implicated in this ruling and strenuously maintains he is clean. But his reputation will be affected, not least because all his Olympic medals came during his time with Salazar and he was under his tutelage for two years after the allegations were made. The ruling also says Farah was among the NOP athletes given ‘medical direction’ by Salazar, including being told to take ‘Calcitonin, a prescription nasal spray to prevent stress fractures, as well as vitamin D’. Farah is due to run in the Chicago Marathon this month.
WHAT NEXT?
SALAZAR intends to appeal against the ruling, and is supported by Nike. There will also be questions for Neil Black and UK Athletics. Meanwhile, NOP athletes — who continue to run at the World Championships in Doha — will come under intense scrutiny.