UK Athletics head coach quits

LONDON: UK Athletics performance director Neil Black is to stand down, the governing body said Tuesday, after he said he would review his position following the doping ban handed down to Olympic champion Mo Farah’s former coach Alberto Salazar.

Salazar’s four-year suspension last week followed an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) into the activities of his Nike-backed Oregon Project training group in Portland.

Black was in charge when UK Athletics appointed Salazar as a consultant to its endurance programme in 2013. He had previously described Salazar as a “genius”.In 2015, when USADA began investigating potential doping violations, Salazar was coaching Farah, whom he helped become a four-time Olympic champion distance runner. UK Athletics reviewed Salazar’s link with Farah at the time and concluded there was “no reason to be concerned”.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing from Black, who will still oversee Farah’s involvement in the Chicago Marathon as planned this weekend but has said he would review his position after Salazar’s ban.