Alberto Salazar in Doping Scandal

While none of the accusations that came out over the weekend against coach Alberto Salazar are new, surprising or conclusive, they were, however, indicative that the investigation into Salazar’s questionable supplementing practices are far from over—and, if anything, might even be a step closer to showing that ethical (and even legal) lines may have been crossed on multiple occasions.

The purported evidence—a 269-page draft of a USADA report leaked by the hacker group Fancy Bears—was not yet meant for public consumption, but USADA did not deny its existence, or accuracy. Salazar, along with Mo Farah and Galen Rupp, of course denied everything, but what else would you expect them to do at this point?

None of the information in the leaked USADA report is official but it’s damning enough—along with what we already know—to make me believe that something messy is about to go down. Here’s why:

— At a minimum, it’s clear that Salazar is willing to push right up against the boundaries of what’s legal—and ethical—in regard to supplementation for his athletes. This type of calculated behavior in competitive, high-stakes environments doesn’t typically stop short of said boundary; instead, offenders will usually try to see how far past it they can go before it becomes noticeable.

— Along those lines, when Salazar emails the most disgraced drug cheat of all-time about the performance gains of an experimental IV he’s been testing, it paints the gray area solid black for me. “Call me asap! We have tested it and it’s amazing,” Salazar wrote to Armstrong in 2011. “You are the only athlete I’m going to tell the actual numbers to other than Galen Rupp. It’s too incredible. All completely legal and natural! You will finish the iron man in about 16 minutes less while taking this.”

— If there’s nothing to hide, why not let USADA look at your medical records? I’m all for protecting an athlete’s privacy, but for the protection of sport itself, this important information should be easily accessible by international anti-doping organizations, especially during an investigation.

— Along those lines, I think it’s Salazar’s relationship with Dr. Jeffrey Brown that’s going to be the undoing of this entire thing, and potentially have ramifications that extend beyond the Oregon Project. “USADA has found substantial and compelling evidence that Nike Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar and Houston endocrinologist Dr Jeffrey Brown conspired to collude together in order to employ risky and untested alternative and unconventional (and sometimes potentially unlawful) uses of medical procedures and prescription medications (including both substances and methods prohibited and/or potentially prohibited under the rules of sport and those that were not) to attempt to increase the testosterone and energy levels and the recovery capacity of NOP athletes in order to boost athletics performance,” the report said. “USADA found that at least seven runners were prescribed thyroid medication after joining the project. The medical records of some of them, reviewed by USADA, indicate no need for the medication.” You could debate the use of L-Carnitine all you want—hell, you could throw it out of the argument all together—because if there is evidence that prescription drugs were being used unlawfully, and on a wider scale than just the NOP, the sport has a cycling-like collapse on its hands.

— “Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations.” I’ve always felt there’s quite a bit of truth to this statement. It’s worth keeping a close eye on how the various parties involved respond to the media as this situation continues to unfold and more news comes out that Salazar and company will surely not want printed. Salazar decried the initial ProPublica reports as “inexcusable, irresponsible journalism” and Farah recently posted that he is “unclear as to the Sunday Times’s motivations towards me.” Sound familiar?

— Tangentially-related shadiness: Finally, and not mentioned in Sunday’s reports, but worth including in this conversation: Salazar and Farah’s relationship with coach Jama Aden, who was busted for supplying his athletes with EPO in Spain last summer, remains largely unresolved. I wrote about this in Issue 32 and again in Issue 43. Letsrun provided a solid rundown last June but it hasn’t been written about much since, to my knowledge. I’ll be interested to see if any chatter about this resurfaces anytime soon.

youngrun wrote: »

More from Sunday Indo
http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/athletics/eamonn-sweeney-the-devil-is-in-the-lack-of-detail-35502793.html

Very damaging press for Athletics yet again . Has USADA or Sweeney evidence of guilt and if so where is the case being taken? . If I were Farah I would be seriously peeved with the likes of this .

I wonder will every future athlete who wins anything be tarred as suspicious /guilty until proven innocent. Has Coe or IAAF or AI any strategy to deal with this or whats the solution. It really ruins the sport .

walshb wrote: »

It's an absolute disgrace...

ThisRegard wrote: »

You like to swim against the tide. Many outlets have had stories recently about the FBI and USADA looking into it.

Or are you implyng the survey is made up?

Joe_ Public wrote: »

No matter what, you'll never get beyond the fourth or fifth post on a football doping thread before someone interjects that PEDs are a waste of time because it's all about skill anyway. It's like a godwins law of football doping discussion threads, all rational discussion ends at that point. Same in tennis, golf, snooker, whatever. It's like Only cycling and athletics get it in the neck.

BTW cheers for that other thing, couldn't reply cos it wouldn't let me!

Chivito550 wrote: »

Any sport that involves running for 90 to 120 minutes around a large patch of grass is full of things like EPO. Same with a sport that involves stop start bursts for up to 5 hours in the sweltering Melbourne, Paris and NYC summer. Skill is nothing without fitness. Absolutely nothing.

There's a reason Dr Fuentes said to one of his cycling clients "you guys take nothing in comparison to the footballers". He'd know better than anyone.

Would love to see a proper investigation done into Spanish football. Can't see it happening sadly.

walshb wrote: »

Skill sometimes can get you by even when lacking real fitness.

Let's not make out these soccer lads are unfit to begin with. They are world class athletes that are young and fit already. PEDs sure could help them as regards their stamina, but it is not near as desired/needed/tempting for soccer players to uses EPO compared to track runners or cyclists. To suggest it's equal is ludicrous.

Soccer is a really tough sport on the lungs and heart, but not compared to guys running miles and 5ks and 10ks and marathons. It's just not comparable, hence it's logically reasosnable to assume that EPO would be a little more desirable/tempting to the runner/cyclist.

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Athletes aren't doping because their events are really tough, or very hard on their bodies or their lungs etc. They're doping to get an edge on the next guy, or at least to keep up with him. Whatever the status or level of their particular sport or event.

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Perhaps a goalkeeper wouldn't. That seems logical enough. Though I'd never rule it out.

Where do you get the idea that the likes of darts players wouldn't dope. You've heard of beta blockers, propranolol right? Drugs that kill adrenalin, lower blood pressure. Darts, snooker, F1, they can all find their poison in a manner of speaking. I've even read about doping scandals in chess for pity's sake!