Will the Salazar witchhunt end up being good or bad for United States distance running?

Walter George and Lon Myers did what they did based nearly only on workouts in the streets or patches of grass. Emil Zatopek is the first known runner to combine workouts and 100 miles a week of running. Lydiard is known for advocating 100 miles a week for all runners, 800m and up. Peter Coe is known for not advocating 100 miles a week for 800m runners and is known for advocating cross-training. Salazar is known for running as much as 200 miles a week himself. I am sure Salazar is known for working his runners hard, but Salazar will be known as Gray Area Cheater.

False premise.

Is this as bad as the several year witch hunt they did on Lance Armstrong?

Some corrections below......

1. Salazar pushed his athletes to the limit, always mindful of what would show up in testing

2. Salazar likely used testosterone, medicine not prescribed to athletes, and infusions to increase performance in athletes. Salazar has a history of doping himself.

3. Nike has a long history of supporting known cheaters to avoid losing face and brand. Take a look at the Lance Armstrong case. Because Nike C suite leadership has decided to back Alberto, none of the Nike Athletes, coaches or affiliates can speak out without being afraid of losing their jobs, or at a minimum large amounts of $$ and opportunities.

4. Salazar has already been convicted and assigned a 4 year ban. It will be appealed, but likely not overturned. Nike has already been backing Salazar and Dr. Brown through the court process over the last 2 years.

5. Tragic for the runners, yes. Tragic for Salazar, perhaps. This has been several years in the making with ample opportunities for Salazar to stop doing what he was doing, but instead he chose to use the power of Nike to protect him.

Anytime you get to burn a witch, its good

I see why some think of it as a witchunt as a ban without an athlete ban is a tiny bit hollow. But if you take a big picture look, it's not a witchhunt. Think about this for a minute. Think of all the former Nike people who were so concerned about this - they testified against him and think it was just.

The original whistleblower - Danny Mackey. He was working in the Nike lab and stunned to see elevated T levels for a bunch of Nike atheletes. He testified he asked Dr. Myhre - the head of the Nike lab about it - and Dr Myhre told him that Alberto's athletes were on T. He was stunned and eventually went to WADA.

Gouchers, Magness, Ritz and probably more (Begley?).

People very close to the program were concerned as hell. If they eventually get a mob boss on tax evasion, oh well.

It'll kill it. Look at cycling after Lance.

what do you think??????????? wrote:

Anybody able to take his place or are we done winning any distance medals at the Olympics?

It will be tough to watch Galen struggle to break 2:08.

rojo wrote:

The original whistleblower - Danny Mackey. He was working in the Nike lab and stunned to see elevated T levels for a bunch of Nike atheletes. He testified he asked Dr. Myhre - the head of the Nike lab about it - and Dr Myhre told him that Alberto's athletes were on T. He was stunned and eventually went to WADA.

I didn't read the whole report, but was this in there somewhere?

I would love to be able to read everyone's testimonies on the topic

Salazar tried to make out with Kara once on a plane fight back from a race.

As an external observer who hasnt bought a pair of Nike over the last 20 years..... his conviction based on the report is purely BS... there is a very small crime at best if none at all. IN THAT REPORT.

Now... if this is the way to get to him because everything else has failed (and you make a complelling list) that is another story. But to me, to stay with Rojo's metaphor, they are are really getting him for "tax evasion", everything else failed, so to speak.....

Exactly, and poor, poor, pitiful Lance Armstrong.

It's not a Witch "Hunt" if the witch was right in front of you the whole time and casting spells. People supporting Salazar because none of his athletes tested positive is hilarious to me. Alberto's #1 goal was to do exactly that, push the envelope as far as possible based on current rules without failed tests. That's why he did so much side testing on the effects of the stuff he was giving Galen and Mo (and who knows who else?), he wanted them to always test just under what would get them in trouble.

Track and Field is mostly DONE. Ever heard of pushing on a string, that's this sport from now on.

rojo wrote:

I see why some think of it as a witchunt as a ban without an athlete ban is a tiny bit hollow. But if you take a big picture look, it's not a witchhunt. Think about this for a minute. Think of all the former Nike people who were so concerned about this - they testified against him and think it was just.

The original whistleblower - Danny Mackey. He was working in the Nike lab and stunned to see elevated T levels for a bunch of Nike atheletes. He testified he asked Dr. Myhre - the head of the Nike lab about it - and Dr Myhre told him that Alberto's athletes were on T. He was stunned and eventually went to WADA.

So do they have proof of wrongdoing or not? Where are all of the athlete bans for elevated T levels? I can't believe a bunch of "concerned" people is enough proof for everyone. Where are the actual doping violations brought forth by the so called concerned people? What if all these concerned people just have an axe to grind with Alberto? He's not the most likable person which is not enough to kick him out of the sport.

So far all we have is enough for a warning at best.

Muddler wrote:

Seems to be what's going on. No athlete of his doped according to USADA but they convict him of doping violations? Seems odd at the least.

My guess Salazar beats this one eventually, and he will go all the way to beat it.

One can break doping rules without doping. In the case of Salazar, he broke rules of protocol without actually doping his athletes by doing infusions above limit, doing testosterone testing he was not supposed to be doing, and by having the records doctored to make it look like infusions were under 50ml. He was not banned 4 years for doping anyone, so it should not be expected that any of his athletes doped.

On the other hand, I think there should be a rule against infusions of any substance unless for reasons of medical necessity. I don't see any reason for allowing this. If having L-carnitine concentrations of thousands of times the normal level turns out to be performance enhancing, then should this not be banned? What is the point of doing this sort of thing to athletes unless it provides a performance enhancement? Currently the rules allow these L-carnitine infusions, but I think any infusions of any kind should be banned.

Yeah, it was a witch hunt, and they caught the MFing witch. I hope that sleazy sal goes to prison along with his doping cheaters.

From what I have read the in report I do not see a just reason for the ban. If I were Pro, I would HOPE that my coach took such diligence to ensure any substance I took or came in contact with would NOT result in a positive test. I would also hope that my coach would research and explore any and all options to maximize my ability. That to me sounds like an incredible coach to me, and his athletes results speak to that. Haters be haters.

Until there is proof that his athletes broke any doping rules (which I have yet to see) then I really don't see any wrong doing. Also I personally don't care if Sal doped Magnass to the gills with every illegal substance known to man. Magnass is not a pro athlete, end of story. That's like busting Rupp for doping because his DAD takes steroids (for example, not true). What a coach does to non athletes for educational reasons is no concern to me.

Until I see proof an ATHLETE doped, Sal is innocent and USADA is a disgrace. And this is not like Armstrong. Armstrong had many people coming forward stating they saw him (the athlete) doping. Who has ever seen one of Sal's athletes doping?

dksjfadskfj wrote:

Until I see proof an ATHLETE doped, Sal is innocent and USADA is a disgrace. And this is not like Armstrong. Armstrong had many people coming forward stating they saw him (the athlete) doping. Who has ever seen one of Sal's athletes doping?

Mary Decker, outed as a doper. There's proof number one. The medical records showing the teenager Rupp dosed on testosterone. There's proof number two.