The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has launched the first known investigation into allegations that famed track coach Alberto Salazar encouraged Olympian Galen Rupp and others in his stable of elite runners to skirt anti-doping rules, The Associated Press has learned.
A person with knowledge of the investigation told AP on Wednesday that more than a dozen witnesses had been interviewed and USADA was actively pursuing documents and other evidence from Salazar, who coached Rupp to the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the London Olympics. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because anti-doping investigations are considered confidential.
A story by ProPublica and BBC earlier this month contained allegations from former Salazar assistant Steve Magness and a former Salazar runner, Kara Goucher, that Salazar skirted the rules. Salazar responded on Wednesday by publishing a 12,000-word letter online disputing the allegations, saying the Oregon Project he led would "never permit doping".
USADA spokeswoman Annie Skinner released a statement saying: "USADA takes all reports of doping seriously and we aggressively follow up on all information we receive in order to fulfil our oath to protect clean athletes and the integrity of competition." Her statement did not directly mention Salazar.
The 56-year-old track coach, who won the 1982 Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon from 1980-82, went public to clear his name on the eve of the US championships in Oregon. Rupp is set to go for his seventh straight national title at 10,000m.
In his letter, Salazar said Goucher suffered from the same thyroid disease as Rupp, and she introduced Rupp to the first endocrinologist who treated him. Thyroid medication is not banned under anti-doping rules, though there's some evidence that it can help improve performance.
Salazar also implies Magness was jaded because he was fired from the Oregon Project in 2012 and, while Magness "makes a number of inflammatory and false statements about the Oregon Project and me personally, at no point does he allege that any doping violations occurred while he was with the Oregon Project. That's because none did".
The lengthy, detailed screed by arguably the world's most powerful long-distance running coach that comes after nearly a month of almost-daily doping allegations since the BBC-ProPublica story.
Another of Salazar's runners, two-time Olympic champion Mo Farah, was caught up in the aftermath of the BBC story, even flying to Salazar's home base in Portland, Oregon, to get everything straightened out. The British runner, not implicated in any of the allegations, routinely trained with Rupp.
