The US SafeSport Center has banned athletic trainer Alberto Salazar for life from emotional and physical abuse of athletes. Former American coach Sevan Hassan, among others, is no longer allowed to train American athletes.
The center, which the US Congress granted the authority to rule in such matters, did not disclose the details of its investigations. Salazar has ten days to appeal the decision. Hassan worked with Salazar for three years. The cases with which he is now charged and for which he is now suspended in America, took place outside the 28-year-old Dutch athlete.
In 2019, runners from Salazar’s training group, including Mary Kane, Kara Goucher and Amy Yoder Begley, launched allegations of psychological and physical abuse by him. The American coach (62) led the Nike Oregon Project for Athletes for many years, which closed in October 2019.
“Abuse of any kind will not be tolerated in our sport, and we will place the emotional and physical safety of athletes above all else,” the federation said. Life suspension applies only to America. Internationally, the penalty has not been adopted. Salazar remains subject to international suspension due to the doping case.
Salazar, who won the Boston and New York marathons in the early 1980s and then coached Olympic medalists like Mo Farah and Galen Robb, hasn’t responded yet. The US Anti-Doping Agency suspended Salazar for four years in September 2019. While no athlete who trained under him had ever been tested for banned substances, USAda determined that Salazar had tampered with doping controls and traded in prohibited substances, including testosterone. The American denied the allegations and challenged the suspension of the doping case. The doping offenses occurred in the period before Hassan began dealing with him.
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