DOHA: The World Athletics Championships were rocked by a drugs scandal on Tuesday after top coach Alberto Salazar was banned for doping, dealing a fresh body blow to the image of track and field at the sport’s showpiece event.
Salazar, best known for coaching Britain’s four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah, was handed a four-year ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a catalogue of drugs violations. The Cuban-born American was suspended following a years-long investigation by USADA and a prolonged battle behind closed doors, the agency said.
Jeffrey Brown, a Texas endocrinologist who treated many of Salazar’s athletes at his Oregon Project, was also suspended for four years. Salazar, who denied the allegations against him, was barred from attending any World Championships venues after having his credentials deactivated, the IAAF confirmed Tuesday.
Salazar is not a member of the United States Track and Field Federation team in Qatar, but several athletes linked to his Nike Oregon Project training group are competing at the championships.
None of the athletes taking part at the world championships linked to Salazar have been found guilty of doping offences, and none were implicated in USADA’s 134-page summary of the case.
The international Athletics Integrity Unit watchdog meanwhile notified athletes with links to Salazar to cease communication with the coach. “Salazar has been stripped of his accreditation for this event, and that means that notices have to be given to the athletes under his coaching so that they don’t associate with him now that he has been banned,” AIU chairman David Howman told the Insidethegames.biz sports business website.
USADA said in the statement that two three-member arbitration panels had determined Salazar and Brown should be banned for “orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct.”
Salazar was discovered to have trafficked or attempted to traffic the banned substance testosterone, given athletes a substance in excess of its permitted limit. “USADA’s investigation yielded a wide range of evidence referenced in the hearing, including eye-witness proof, testimonies, contemporaneous emails, and patient records,” USADA said.