Muir team unhappy at rival’s coach link
LAURA MUIR and her coach Andy Young have spoken out about Genzebe Dibaba and her association with controversial trainer Jama Aden, with Young describing it as ‘not particularly healthy for the sport’.
Dibaba won 3,000metre and 1,500m golds at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham last week — edging 24-year-old Scot Muir into bronze and silver medals respectively.
The Ethiopian’s times in the middle distances across the past six years have been staggering, but her ties to Aden have been raising eyebrows for a long time as it is understood he remains under investigation by the Spanish police and the Athletics Integrity Unit.
In 2016, the coach was arrested by Spanish police during a raid in which erythropoietin (EPO) was found in the room of one of his physiotherapists. Aden denies all wrongdoing.
Dibaba’s connection to Aden has caused unease in Muir’s team, with Young saying: ‘Her association with a certain coach is not particularly healthy for the sport.’
Asked about racing against Dibaba against such a backdrop, Muir said: ‘It can be difficult but I think I’ve always said that no matter who is on the start line, I’ll race against them.
‘The reason I’m in this sport is because I enjoy it and nobody is going to stop me from enjoying it.
‘It is what it is. All I can do is concentrate on my performances.
‘I know I work my butt off day in and day out and if I deserve the medals, all I can do is influence the training that I do and what I can do on the track myself.’
Dibaba, 27, has never failed a drugs test.
Sifan Hassan, the 1,500m bronze medallist behind Muir and Dibaba in Birmingham this week, drew significant attention on social media for her downbeat expression during the podium presentation.
Young believes that the Dutchwoman — herself a student of controversial coach Alberto Salazar — was ‘expressing her contempt’ for Dibaba’s association with Aden, who has previously had links to Mo Farah.
On a more positive note, meanwhile, British Athletics performance director Neil Black has backed Muir to win Olympic gold.
The weekend’s second and third-place finishes represented her first world medals following double European Indoor gold in Belgrade 12 months ago.
Muir will finish her veterinary studies in May to allow her to focus more time on her athletics career and, ahead of Tokyo 2020, Black expects her to challenge.
‘With the ability she’s got, she has to be a repeat medallist. Everything would suggest she is going to win gold medals in the future,’ he said.
‘Everything is focused on the Olympic Games. I’m absolutely sure Laura’s target is Tokyo 2020 and on to 2024. She is not shy of that.
‘We’re going to see a more confident Laura and she’s going to go into every competition believing she’s got a really good chance of winning.
‘I don’t want to belittle European competition but it’s not world and I know people will say indoor isn’t outdoor, but there weren’t many missing. She competed against the best in the world.’
Katarina Johnson-Thompson added to Muir’s success by winning pentathlon gold, while Andrew Pozzi took the 60m hurdle title.
Eilidh Doyle and Shelayna Oskan-Clarke won bronze in the 400m and 800m respectively while the women’s 4x400m squad also came third. Johnson-Thompson was favourite for the pentathlon, with Olympic and world champion Nafi Thiam absent along with Carolin Schafer and Anouk Vetter.
It was the 25-year-old’s first global title after a string of disappointments at the World Championships and Olympics.
Black believes Johnson-Thompson will accept that victory will be judged against a weakened field but feels it will also give her belief for the challenges ahead.
‘She will do the same thing. She’s no fool,’ said Black.
‘What we expect from Kat is she will now go into competitions believing she will perform at her best.’