The head of British Athletics, Neil Black, insists that he is “really comfortable” with the fact that his organisation is still working closely with Mo Farah’s coach, Alberto Salazar, despite the controversial American being under investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
Black revealed that Salazar still speaks to British coaches every couple of days and would be “completely welcome” in the team hotel at any time. “We communicate regularly but briefly with Alberto,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s every day, sometimes it’s every two or three days based around Mo’s training. We talk about where Mo is at and we feed information back to Alberto about what Mo’s done. He feeds in thoughts about what he should do and it keeps going round in a loop.”
Black believes the fall-out from a BBC documentary in June, which alleged that Salazar had violated a series of doping rules, has helped Farah become even more motivated to win the 10,000m at the world championships in Beijing on Saturday.
“It has been a distraction,” admitted Black. “We could have all done without it. But I honestly believe we dealt with it brilliantly, albeit that Mo is the person who’s dealt with it the best. He has consistently done things over the last few months that have demonstrated he’s in really good shape. Clearly he’s gained additional motivation from some of the challenges, and he’s turned a negative into a positive.”
Salazar, who strongly rejects all the allegations against him – including claims that he gave testosterone to the Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Galen Rupp – has had little direct contact with Farah since June. Shortly after the BBC’s Panorama programme aired, Farah moved from his home in Oregon to Font Romeu in France where he has been supervised on a day-to-day basis by the British Athletics head of endurance, Barry Fudge. There is no suggestion that Farah, who maintains he is a “100% clean athlete”, has done anything wrong and he has said he will stick with the American unless he sees clear evidence against him.
Black said he was not dwelling on Usada’s investigation into Salazar but admitted that the recent months had been challenging. “There was a lady supporting our training camp in Japan who told me that challenge is beautiful. We’ve been surrounded by beauty for the last few weeks,” he joked.
But when it was suggested to Black that there had been plenty of grubbiness and difficulties, he agreed. “Yes, at times it’s been a bag of shit,” he said. “But it’s just what it is.”
Black also agreed that it was vital that Farah got Great Britain off to a golden start by winning the 10,000m. “It’s massive,” he said. “I think if he doesn’t win, other athletes will go ‘Bloody hell, if Mo can’t even win, what the hell chance have we got?’ Thankfully he’s the type of personality that he doesn’t find that a burden. But early success is vital to driving the momentum which we really need. And it’s amazing how people spin off each other.”
While Black claimed he was confident that Britain would do well in Beijing, he once again refused to set a medal target for the event. “I’m not personally motivated, in any shape or form, by a numerical target in terms of medals,” he said. “That’s the honest answer. I’ve heard and seen people get shat on as a result of it, so I thought, ‘I don’t get anything from it, so I don’t want to set myself up to be beaten up necessarily. So why do it?’ We agree a target range with UK Sport but we genuinely don’t discuss that.”
Meanwhile Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, has said that, while he personally supports lifetime bans for athletes who cheated, it is impossibly legally to make them work. “If you ask me about my emotions, I would say clearly yes I would support a lifetime ban,” he said. “But I had to learn from different courts and lawyers that it is legally not just possible and that a lifelong ban would not stand any kind of challenge.”
When asked about Justin Gatlin competing in the world championships despite having failed two tests, he said that it was only right that he was allowed to compete. “If you have an athlete who has served his suspension, then he has the right to participate in championships,” he said. “A suspension is there and afterwards we have to treat these athletes in the same way as the others.”
Bach also said it was “too early” to speculate on the outcome of the IAAF inquiry into the leak of suspicious blood values but said he supported the action athletics’ governing body had taken. “It’s very clear that until 2009, before the athlete blood passport was introduced, none of these test results contained in these data bases could be used as proof of doping,” said Bach. “They could only serve as an indication for target testing. The IAAF has explained to us in different ways that this is what the IAAF has done, following up with the target testing.
“Since the World Anti-Doping Agency said at the same time that it would be libellous to make allegations of doping at this point in time, I will not make such allegations. We are awaiting now, together with the IAAF, the results of the inquiry and the independent commission.”
