Renowned US coach Alberto Salazar disqualified for life

Alberto Salazar is the mentor of many track and field stars. He has now been disqualified for distributing banned drugs. The coach has raised athletes over the years, including renowned champion Mo Farah. Alberto also managed the Oregon project centre.

The last of his pupils was Sfan Hassan, who managed to take gold in 5,000 and 10,000 m at the Olympics in Tokyo. The coach was no longer at the Games, as he was found guilty of doping back in 2019. The coach was then decided to disqualify him for four years. His famous pupils have not been caught doping and have not testified against their coach. Still, the US Anti-Doping Agency was able to catch Salazar on indirect evidence, which they took advantage of.

Alberto was then accused of holding testosterone for one of his sons, but that does not apply to athletes. The mentor tried to challenge the disqualification, but it didn’t work out. At the time he had a chance after four years to return to work. That all changed when Alberto was accused of molesting an athlete.

A new scandal for Alberto Salazar

In the west it is much easier to punish people not for doping, but for violating another person’s personal boundaries or for sexual abuse. Alberto Salazar has been accused by the athlete Mary Kane – she used to train with him. The woman said the coach regularly humiliated her because of her obesity. He forced her to stand on the scales in front of other athletes. Because of this, the girl faced a serious injury and even thought about giving up the sport.

Mary sued the coach and demanded that he pay $20 million to compensate for the moral damage. At the moment, the lawsuit was still pending.

Another athlete, Amy Begley, decided to take a stand against the coach. She recalled that in the past Alberto had expelled her from the group because of her large buttocks. This was the reason for the lifelong disqualification of the coach.

The unpleasant event took place back in 2020 and the coach did not hesitate to send in an appeal. He failed to win, but was able to dispute the fact that there had been emotional abuse. It turned out that was not the only problem. Salazar had also committed sexual abuse. He was disqualified for life for this and barred from future appeals.

There was not a single witness who could openly confirm the fact that Alberto was guilty. No one has publicly complained about the man.

The coach’s name has been removed from the training campus buildings. The Oregon project was shut down because the sponsoring organisation refused to support it. Initially, the company was on the coach’s side. What’s more, the sponsor even paid for the initial appeals, but that later changed.

Salazar will now have to resign himself to disqualification as he has no chance of a comeback. The coach has paid the price not only for doping but also for molesting a student.