Nike probes Salazar ‘emotional abuse’ claims

Nike has launched an investigation into disgraced coach Alberto Salazar after Mary Cain, an American middle-distance runner and former teenage prodigy, claimed she was driven to self-harm by his constant pressure to lose weight.

Former team-mates and coaching staff at the Nike Oregon Project – shut down last month after Salazar was banned for four years for doping offences – added their voice to Cain’s allegations yesterday.

Cain, who had joined the group aged 16, had earlier told The New York Times she was “emotionally and physically” abused by Salazar’s methods, which caused her periods to stop for three years and for her to break five bones due to osteoporosis. She also said she had “suicidal thoughts” and began to cut herself.

Salazar, who guided Mo Farah to global success, has refuted the claims and insisted he supported Cain’s welfare. But several former Nike Oregon Project runners have described similar stories.

Amy Yoder Begley claimed she was “kicked out” of Salazar’s team after finishing sixth at the 2011 US Championships when she was allegedly told she was “too fat”.

Adam Goucher said that when his wife, Kara, finished fifth at the 2011 Boston Marathon six months after giving birth, Salazar allegedly told her family: “She is still too heavy. She needs to lose her baby weight if she wants to be fast again.”

As well as issuing a public apology for failing to help Cain during their time as training partners, Cam Levins said: “I knew that our coaching staff was obsessed with your weight loss, emphasising it as if it were the single thing standing in the way of great performances. I knew because they spoke of it openly among other athletes.”

Salazar’s former assistant, Steve Magness, confirmed many of the stories told by Cain and former Nike Oregon Project athletes.

“Salazar was obsessed with weight,” he said. “He’d joke about using liposuction or removing your appendix for weight loss.”

Salazar has not responded to Magness’s claims or that of Cain’s former team-mates.

Describing Cain’s claims as “deeply troubling”, Nike said: “We take the allegations extremely seriously and will launch an immediate investigation to hear from former Oregon Project athletes.

“Mary was seeking to rejoin the Oregon Project and Alberto’s team as recently as April of this year and had not raised these concerns as part of that process.”