Double Olympic champion Mo Farah says he will continue to be trained by Alberto Salazar following his coach’s firm rebuttal of doping allegations.
Salazar was accused in a BBC documentary of overseeing a doping programme at the Nike Oregon Project, with Galen Rupp, who came second to Farah in the 10,000m at the London 2012 Olympics, also heavily implicated.
Farah was not accused of any illegal practices whatsoever in the BBC programme but has since been forced to defend his integrity after it emerged he missed two doping tests in the build-up to the Olympics.
Salazar earlier this week issued a 12,000-word reply to the allegations made against him, and the detailed nature of his response has convinced Farah to continue to place his faith in the 56-year-old American.
Farah said in a statement issued on his Facebook page: “Following all the speculation I want to make it clear where I stand. Although it’s been a difficult time, I asked Alberto to respond to the allegations made against him and he has now done so in full.
“As someone I’ve worked with for many years, I feel I have to believe in Alberto and the evidence he has provided. Based on that evidence, I will continue to work with him and hope now that I can focus on what I do best – training hard to win medals for my country.”
In his lengthy denial, Salazar wrote: “I have not and will not condone any athlete I train using a banned substance and would never encourage any athlete to use a banned substance. We have worked very, very hard to achieve our successes and are proud of our accomplishments. I hereby demand the BBC and ProPublica immediately publish a retraction of their false statements.”
European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey had previously urged Farah to “run a mile” from Salazar due to the allegations made against him.
“As an athlete, you don’t want to associate yourself with people that have got accusations and allegations against them,” Pavey said. “I’m not here to accuse anyone, but if there was anybody I was slightly associated with that I suddenly realised had these accusations against them – or any of my training partners – I’d run a mile.”
As well as getting Farah’s backing, though, Salazar was also given the support of Rupp on Friday. The 29-year-old, who has been accused of doping since he was a teenager by taking on testosterone, said after winning his seventh national 10,000m race in a row: “I believe in clean sport”, backing Salazar “100%”.
“It’s been hard, I’m not going to lie,” he added. “We’ve talked [him and Farah], for sure. I can’t speak for him, obviously, but I think we’ve got a great thing going and he’s had great success. We know we do things the right way so really that’s all I’ve got to say to him.”