Mo Farah will be staying with Alberto Salazar’s training group after an independent audit set up by UK Athletics found there was “no reason” to lack confidence in his training programme at the Nike Oregon Project – and “no reason” to be concerned about any other British athlete or coaches involved with the Oregon Project.
The news will come as a massive relief to Farah, who has always said that he would stuck by Salazar unless he was shown clear evidence of wrongdoing, as well as to the British Athletics performance director, Neil Black, and the head of endurance, Barry Fudge, both of whom have worked closely with Salazar.
UK Athletics said it was not able to give full details of the review by its performance oversight group, composed of Jason Gardener, Dr Sarah Rowell and Anne-Wafula Strike, because the United States Anti-Doping Agency had asked them not to while they continue their investigations into Salazar.
However in a statement it confirmed that the audit had found no evidence of any wrongdoing. “In July we said that there was no evidence of any impropriety on the part of Mo Farah and no reason to lack confidence in his training programme,” it said. “The oversight group have restated that view today. They have also found no reason to be concerned about the engagement of other British athletes and coaches with the Oregon Project.
“The review established that the vast majority of the endurance program’s interaction with the Oregon Project is in fact focussed on Mo Farah, with very little other UK Athletics related activity. Coaching and support for Mo Farah will remain the focus of our engagement with the Oregon Project.”
The performance oversight group was set up in the wake of an investigation by the BBC’s Panorama and the US news website ProPublica which alleged in June that Salazar had violated a series of anti-doping rules, including given Farah’s training partner testosterone as a 16-year-old. Both Salazar and Rupp have denied any wrongdoing and there was never a suggestion that Farah had done anything wrong.
The oversight group was tasked with finding out whether the UKA’s confidence in the Nike Oregon Project and Farah’s training was well-founded by looking specifically at three areas: Farah’s training programme with the Oregon Project, the endurance programme within the Oregon Project, and the lessons learned for the wider UK athletics endurance programme.
While no one has doubted the oversight group’s intentions, some have wondered whether having a former athlete investigating such serious allegations was the best way to get to the bottom of the accusations. And with Usada asking for further details not to be made public it is difficult to know how forensic and intensive their investigations were, although the Guardian understands that many of the witnesses in the Panorama documentary were spoken to by Gardener.
In their statement UK Athletics said that the oversight group had made a number of organisational and procedural recommendations “which UK Athletics’ performance director Neil Black will take forward and implement over the coming months”.
It added: “Obviously since our review was set up Usada announced that it was conducting an investigation into allegations made in respect of staff within the Oregon Project. Usada is clearly the right body to look at anti-doping issues. They have asked us not to give any further details of our review until their work has concluded. We respect their request and are of course giving them our fullest support and co-operation.”
