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Things not going well for Roberto Salazar, Nike coach.


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https://www.foxnews.com/sports/nike-investigation-abuse-mary-cain-alberto-salazar

Nike has announced an internal investigation into allegations of “emotional and physical abuse” leveled against disgraced world-class track and field coach Alberto Salazar this week in an op-ed by former Olympic hopeful Mary Cain.

Cain, 23, opened up about the abuse she experienced after joining the Nike-backed running program “The Oregon Project” in 2013 in a video Op-Ed published in the New York Times.

“I joined Nike because I wanted to be the best female athlete ever. Instead I was emotionally and physically abused by a system design by Alberto and endorsed by Nike.”

Cain described how her “dream come true” quickly turned into a nightmare when, at just 16-years-old, she was body-shamed and pressured to be “thinner and thinner and thinner.”

Not quite at the level of "Dirty old Bastard," but still.

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It would be nice to hear from other athletes in the same program to get other perspectives.  From the years posted, I assume she was 16-18 when she joined the Nike program.   As an older adult now, I find it perplexing how parents work on the assumption that coaches are always a positive for their children and don’t stay closer to watch out for their kid.  I guess we are all accustomed to trusting authorities or we assume others in authority have verified the coach and coaching techniques.

however without a doubt, Salazar cuts corners (cheats) based on his recent suspension for doping charges. 

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The last insider article has a track athlete saying a coach shouldn’t discuss weight with athletes. Really?

Quote

"There are things they shouldn't be talking to you about. They shouldn't be talking to you about your relationship, or your weight, or your body, or the size of your butt. That's not a place a coach should be."

I would never be confused with a world class athlete but I think all coaches discuss body or personal issues that they feel are holding back the athlete’s performance. Has a football coach ever told an athlete to lose or gain weight?  Should they tell an athlete to behave off the field? That happens everyday.

or given additional societal pressure, should coaches of female athletes put weight off the table regardless of impact to performance? If a female athlete gains 20 lbs, should the coach ignore it?

fyi, Salazar sounds like he took his coaching to an extent that is beyond acceptable. I’m asking about “acceptable” coaching.

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5 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

I’m not going to defend this guy at all, but every high-level distance runner I’ve ever seen could stand to eat a couple of cheeseburgers.

Possibly long distance runners are mistaken in that they need to be thin. But I don’t think that the running world is preventing an overweight runner from competing.

However before Bolt, the consensus was that a tall sprinter couldn’t compete at that level. Or if you had shown a tennis coach in 1975 a picture of a woman with Serena Williams’ body type, they would be in disbelief that this is the all time best women’s tennis player.

conventional wisdom can hold back outliers from succeeding in any field. But until someone proves otherwise, conventional wisdom is what most coaches are paid to teach.

 

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8 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

The last insider article has a track athlete saying a coach shouldn’t discuss weight with athletes. Really?

I was about to say that would be the role of the team nutritionist but then I saw this in the article linked.

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Cain and Goucher say the Nike Oregon Project had no nutritionist on staff

That seems amazing for a team of athletes at that level. 

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7 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Possibly long distance runners are mistaken in that they need to be thin. But I don’t think that the running world is preventing an overweight runner from competing.

there are fatties competing in every public race in every city.  spoiler alert: they don’t win. 

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Agree that a nutritionist would also discuss weight with an athlete but wouldn’t a coach that is leading the program also discuss weight if they think weight is holding an athlete back? 

yes it is surprising that the Nike program didn’t  have a nutritionist on staff. Perhaps just another reason why Salazar was the wrong person to lead the program. I guess he though the or the other coaches were performing that duty given the comments.

We’re not far removed from the days when coaches withheld water due the idea that it hurt performance or they withheld water as a punishment.  I’m sure that some sports still have coaches that are stuck in the past. They need to go.

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You guys are grasping onto the weight comments only.  It's not just that, he's been pushing doping, bending the rules about medication exemptions,, and pushing good runners to cheat for years.  He was recently handed a 4 year ban for pushing doping.  Yeah maybe you'll say tons of them do it, but some of them did it because he's in charge of it and pushes it on them.  It doesn't excuse any athlete who dopes, but the point is that guys like him shouldn't be in charge of coaching anyone. 

And when she was being told to drop weight she was already the fastest female runner in America, not just some snowflake slouch.  Pretty sure she she didn't get that far by not being able to take some tough coaching.  

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2 hours ago, Your Mom said:

You guys are grasping onto the weight comments only.  It's not just that, he's been pushing doping, bending the rules about medication exemptions,, and pushing good runners to cheat for years.  He was recently handed a 4 year ban for pushing doping.  Yeah maybe you'll say tons of them do it, but some of them did it because he's in charge of it and pushes it on them.  It doesn't excuse any athlete who dopes, but the point is that guys like him shouldn't be in charge of coaching anyone. 

And when she was being told to drop weight she was already the fastest female runner in America, not just some snowflake slouch.  Pretty sure she she didn't get that far by not being able to take some tough coaching.  

What is awesome is that none of the Jamaican sprinters dope. They just are faster there.

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