Alberto Salazar’s Four-Year Ban Upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport

IT Band Syndrome banned from track and field for four years by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for “orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct,” has had his ban upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The four-year ban of Dr. Jeffrey Brown, a Houston-based endocrinologist who worked with Salazar, was also upheld.

In a September 16 press release, CAS wrote that its three-judge panel had found Salazar committed three anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs): possession of testosterone, complicity in Dr. Brown’s administration of a prohibited method, and tampering with the doping control process.

More From Runner's World

 

But the release also said the panel concluded “the way in which the case was conducted by USADA and that the evidence was presented and, in some cases, later abandoned, seemed to be out of proportion and excessive when compared to the severity and consequences of the ADRVs that have been established.”

The panel also concluded that “none of the ADRVs directly affected athletic competition, and that there was no evidence put before the CAS as to any effect on athletes competing at the elite level within the NOP.”

The full report from CAS will be released once any requests for confidentiality have been resolved.

USADA CEO Travis Tygart released a statement that read, in part, “We are pleased that the CAS Panel upheld multiple anti-doping rule violations and four-year sanctions against both Coach Alberto Salazar and Dr. Jeffrey Brown. Hopefully, this sends a powerful message that when athletes come to us with information of doping violations or other misconduct, they know we will listen to them and protect them by pursuing the evidence, no matter the power, influence, or financial resources of those in violation—even those, like here, who orchestrate cover-ups and attempt to obstruct the truth.”

Salazar, 63, was coaching several athletes at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, when his suspension was announced in 2019. He was barred from the meet before several NOP runners, such as Advertisement - Continue Reading Below and Americans Donavan Brazier Trail Running Gear.

No Nike Oregon Project athletes have ever failed a drug test. At the time of the 2019 ruling, Nike stood by Salazar and supported his decision to appeal, although it Runners World 2023 Calendar.

A Nike statement on September 16 reads, “We supported Alberto in appeal because we understood, and the first panel found, that there was no doping. There was no finding that performance enhancing drugs have ever been used on Oregon Project athletes and the panel went out of its way to note Alberto’s nauseate to follow all rules. We are glad to see that CAS reiterated this in their decision and stated that the way that the case was handled was disproportionate to the severity of the violations established.

Alberto is no longer a contracted coach, and we shuttered the Oregon Project almost 2 years ago.”

After NOP ended in 2019, its athletes dispersed to different coaches. Many, like Brazier and Engels, were already primarily training under longtime Salazar assistant Pete Julian when the ban was handed down.

Galen Rupp, who won two Olympic medals under Salazar, is More From Runners World of Northern Arizona University. Rupp won the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials and finished eighth at the Olympic Marathon in Tokyo.

Jordan Hasay, who has struggled with injuries in the years since Salazar coached her to a 2:20:57 marathon in 2017 in Chicago, had been coached by former marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe. In March, she joined the training group run by Julian.

Nike’s CEO at the time, Mark Parker, stepped down in January 2020. He continues to serve as the company’s executive chairman.

Salazar has also been suspended by a different governing body, the U.S. Center for SafeSport. In January 2020, Salazar’s name appeared in that body’s centralized disciplinary database. He was ruled temporarily suspended, after reports by or on behalf of at least three runners coached by Salazar.

On July 26, 2021, that suspension was upgraded to “permanent ineligibility” for sexual misconduct and emotional misconduct, but it was subject to appeal.

In November 2019, former Salazar athlete won the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Heptathlete Brings Lawsuit Against USATF op-ed that she was emotionally and physically abused by Salazar, and that the NOP’s all-male coaching staff was convinced she needed to lose weight. According to Cain, they weighed her in front of her teammates, she stopped running well, and she started to have suicidal thoughts.

Salazar’s USADA ban is set to expire in September 2023. It is unclear if he will appeal the SafeSport ban and if he will make a return to coaching.

In July, New York Road Runners removed Salazar, who won the We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article in 1980, ’81, and ’82, from its hall of fame. In August, after the SafeSport ruling, Nike Nutrition & Weight Loss on its Beaverton, Oregon, campus the Next%.