Mo Farah backs Alberto Salazar as Olympic champion vows to stay with controversial coach

Mo Farah has promised on Facebook to support his coach Alberto Salazar
Farah: ‘I feel I have to believe in Alberto and the evidence he has provided’
Salazar released a 11,636-word letter on Wednesday to deny allegations

Published:
22:16 GMT, 26 June 2015

|
Updated:
22:16 GMT, 26 June 2015

View
comments

Mo Farah has announced that he will be standing by Alberto Salazar, the controversial American coach caught up in drugs allegations.

But it emerged that Salazar may have inadvertently admitted to a breach of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code in his detailed rebuttal of serious drug claims.

Almost 48 hours after Salazar issued his 11,000-word response, Farah released a carefully worded statement saying: ‘As someone I’ve worked with for many years, I feel I have to believe in Alberto and the evidence he has provided.

Mo Farah (right) has promised to continue working with coach Alberto Salazar (centre) despite the allegations

Farah released a statement on his Facebook page promising to back coach Salazar

Salazar works with a group of athletes including Farah and Galen Rupp (right) at the Nike campus in Oregon

‘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.’

However, doping experts believe Salazar may well have opened the door to the relevant authorities over admissions he made about the possession and use of AndroGel, which contains banned steroid testosterone.

In his rebuttal, Salazar confirmed an allegation that he applied the controlled substance to his sons, Alex and Tony, in a bid to discover how much would trigger a positive test, as he feared someone might deliberately try to sabotage one of his athletes.

The coach, who is facing allegations from 17 witnesses, supervises the training of Rupp and Farah

Rupp and Farah completed a one-two in the 10,000m at the London Olympics in 2012

Salazar (centre) hugs Rupp and Farah following the latter’s victory in the 2011 World Championship

The issue with the ‘sabotage test’ incident is that Salazar’s sons are also employed by the Nike Oregon Project.

WADA prohibits support personnel from possessing a banned substance without permission ‘or other acceptable justification’, which Salazar makes no mention of having in his rebuttal.