Steve Magness, the whistleblower at the centre of the allegations directed at Mo Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar, has told the Observer he is happy to tell UK Athletics investigators exactly what he knows.
Magness, who was chosen by Salazar to be his No2 at the world-famous Nike Oregon Project in 2011, revealed to the BBC’s Panorama that he had evidence that appeared to show that Galen Rupp had taken the banned steroid testosterone at the age of 16.
Magness told the programme that he was in Salazar’s office when the reports showing the blood levels of every athlete in the Nike Oregon project were put on his desk.
“Under one of Galen’s it had ‘currently on testosterone and prednisone medication’ and when I saw that I kind of jumped backwards,” said Magness. “Testosterone is obviously banned and everyone knew that. It was all the way back in high school – and that was incredibly shocking. At that point I actually took a picture of it. I wanted to essentially have evidence in case something happened.”
Both Salazar and Rupp deny any wrongdoing and there is no suggestion that Farah has done anything wrong.
In a short email exchange, Magness, who now coaches at the University of Houston, said he would be more than willing speak to the UK Athletics performance oversight group, which is tasked with investigating the relationship between Farah, UK Athletics and Salazar.
Ed Warner, the chair of UK Athletics, said on Friday that they “would not skimp on airfares” for the group, which comprises the former athletes Jason Gardener, Dr Sarah Rowell and Anne Wafula Strike, if it helped them gather evidence. They are due to report back in early August.
