Allegations about the American coach are not going away, which means both he and Farah must engage more fully with those who are challenging them
The last time I spoke to Alberto Salazar, in a hotel lobby in Beijing, he offered some simple financial advice. “You should put your money on me being cleared,” he said, smiling. “It’s a winning bet.” That was in August 2015, in the midst of a blizzard of allegations and an investigation by the US Anti‑Doping Agency against him. Yet 18 months later he remains in limbo, neither damned or saved, still awaiting his fate. And there, right beside him, stands Sir Mo Farah and British Athletics.
Who would have predicted this in June 2015, when the allegations against Salazar first surfaced on the BBC’s Panorama? Depending on one’s point of view, this shows either commendable faith or staggering misjudgment on the part of Farah and British Athletics. The accusations are not insubstantial. Salazar has faced a rap sheet of potential violations – including giving Galen Rupp testosterone when he was 16 – and now it has been suggested that he ignored the warnings from a UK Athletics doctor not to prescribe Farah vitamin D or calcitonin in high doses in 2011 because of a medical condition.
Related: Mo Farah denies breaking anti-doping rules after new claims against Salazar
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