How Nike lured Mo Farah to work with coach Alberto Salazar in Oregon 

• Farah split from his long-time coach, Alan Storey, and joined Salazar's group at the Nike Oregon Project in Portland
• Under Storey, someone who had coached a number of Olympic medallists, Farah progressed well
• But Salazar was watching. And to prove his credentials as a coach he chose to turn Europe's top distance runner into a world beater 
• By February 2011, Farah was living and training in America, with Salazar his coach and Rupp his new training partner
• 18 months later, all three men were celebrating the night of their lives, as Farah and Rupp took an unforgettable 1-2 in the London Olympics 10,000m 

By Matt Lawton for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:01 EST, 12 June 2015 | Updated: 17:34 EST, 12 June 2015

Exactly how Mo Farah ended up under the guidance of Alberto Salazar has become almost as big an issue for British Athletics this past week as the doping allegations that have been levelled at the double Olympic champion’s American coach.

From the moment Farah denied that Salazar had once coached a convicted drug cheat in Mary Slaney, and performance director Neil Black then insisted that the governing body had done its ‘due diligence’ prior to letting their star athlete move to Oregon, it has been an exercise in trying to rewrite history.

Attempts to distance Salazar from Slaney at the time of her failed dope test in 1996 have been comical, all seemingly done in an effort to ease the embarrassment for Farah and Black.

Mo Farah chose to move to Oregon in early 2011 to train under the watchful eye of Alberto Salazar

Salazar (centre) hugs Galen Rupp (left) and Farah following the 5,000m final at the 2011 World Championships

Mary Slaney, with husband Richard listening nearby, discusses her suspension by USA Track and Field

In his role at the time as the head of endurance for British Athletics, Ian Stewart was instrumental in bringing Farah and Salazar together.

This week Stewart, who left UK Athletics in 2013, said he knew for a ‘fact’ that Salazar had never coached Slaney.

But there is a mountain of evidence that says otherwise. Not just newspaper cuttings from the time, but Salazar’s own autobiography. ‘I also coached my good friend Mary Slaney, the American middle-distance legend, at the end of her career,’ he wrote in a book that boasts a foreword by Lance Armstrong. It matters not that she had another coach too. She also had Salazar. He says so himself.

Presumably British Athletics is feeling rather uncomfortable about the role it played in Farah splitting from his long-time coach, Alan Storey, and joining Salazar’s group at the Nike Oregon Project in Portland.

Presumably officials fear that they could be held partly responsible if the claims that Salazar has doped his athletes, and gave testosterone to Farah’s principal training partner, Galen Rupp, when he was only 16, prove to be true.

The idea that Britain’s track hero of the London Olympics could be tainted by association is the stuff of nightmares for British Athletics. Not least because of the tale of clandestine meetings and major corporate investment that led to Farah moving to America. A tale that has been told to Sportsmail by a variety of sources this week.

Mo Farah denies being recommended thyroid medication

Farah begins his trademark celebration with Rupp behind in second after winning the Olympic 10,000m

A week later Farah followed up with gold in the 5,000m to send the capital and the country into delirium

Neil Black, Farah and chief executive of UK Athletics Neils De Vos are pictured in a press conference

Farah was a hugely gifted young distance runner. A schoolboy champion and outstanding junior international athlete who started working with Storey in 2004, a 21-year-old training at the same University of St Mary’s track in Teddington that over the years had been a European base for some of Africa’s finest athletes.

Under Storey, someone who had coached a number of Olympic medallists, Farah progressed well, even if at times he frustrated his coach by ignoring important advice.

There was an incident in 2010 when Storey encouraged him not to wear his spikes in a 10,000 metres race, simply because an injury had prevented him running in spikes for a few months. But Farah had seen his British rival, Chris Thompson, run a fast time the previous day and was determined to beat him. In the end he did so by one second, but running 25 laps of an unforgiving synthetic track in spikes left him nursing an Achilles problem. For the remainder of that season he could only train two of every three days, yet Farah still managed to win two European golds and break Dave Moorcroft’s long-standing British record for the 5,000m. Farah’s time of 12min 57sec was world class; a measure of just how talented he was given less than ideal preparation.

Watching with interest from America’s west coast was Salazar, who as the head of Nike’s Oregon Project was under a bit of pressure. His fiercest rival, and another coach at the NOP, was Jerry Schumacher, and much to Salazar’s dismay, his runner Chris Solinsky was flying, particularly over 5,000m where he bettered the best times of both Salazar’s golden boy, Rupp, and Dathan Ritzenhein.

A simple solution might have been to simply use Nike’s financial muscle to lure a top African to Oregon.

But that, said one observer this week, would have amounted to ‘cheating’ in the eyes of Schumacher, and Salazar knew it. To prove his credentials as a coach he had to be more creative, and turning Europe’s top distance runner into a world beater — someone who was good until he came up against the Kenyans and Ethiopians — was the challenge he set himself.

A typically exuberant Farah wins the European 10,000m title in Barcelona in July 2010

Farah loses out to Bernard Lagat in the men's 3,000m the following month during the Aviva London Grand Prix

Back in London the situation for Farah was not ideal. Storey had coached Farah between 2004 and 2008, and the relationship had worked well despite Storey’s time being split between his Somalian-born running machine and the 16 lottery-funded athletes he was tasked with managing for British Athletics.

But a problem arose after the Beijing Olympics, with Storey leaving the governing body in acrimonious circumstances.

It led to a temporary split between Farah and Storey, and Farah worked with different coaches for a while.

There would be a spell with the highly-respected Loughborough University coach, George Gandy, then a stint in Australia under Nick Bideau.

Mo Farah on a gruelling run as he trains in Northern Arizona

Alan Storey coached a number of Olympic medallists, including Farah between 2004 and 2008

Salazar had success as an athlete and his obsessive approach to coaching has yielded dividends with athletes

Farah seemed amused by photographers near his Oregon home this week, taking photos of the Presspack

Bideau’s group, one that boasted the talented Craig Mottram, proved too tough for Farah at the time, and eventually he returned to London with a desire to once again hook up with Storey.

Politically it was difficult, so Farah’s agent, Ricky Simms, was officially his coach with Storey unofficially back in charge.

Farah began to run well — those two European titles and the sub-13 minute 5,000m for a start.

But in the background things were developing, with Salazar now in the shadows and British Athletics keen to sever the link between Farah and Storey.

By now, Farah was enjoying a reasonable standard of living. A modern three- bedroom terraced house in Teddington was home for his young family and a decent contract with Adidas, thought to be around £50,000 a year, was a nice addition to the prize money he was now winning on the circuit.

Farah and Rupp train on the grass of the Nike campus in Beaverton, Oregon in 2013

Salazar (left) directs Cam Levins, Matthew Centrowitz, Farah and Rupp as they train at the Nike campus

Nike and Salazar could, of course, offer so much more, and as it turned out they could also offer British Athletics the incentive of a new kit deal.

They replaced Adidas as the official sponsor of British Athletics in 2013 with a multi-million-pound agreement that runs until 2020.

Farah’s move to Oregon was discussed during a series of secret meetings at the Bilas Tandoori restaurant in Teddington, with Stewart providing the point of contact with Salazar.

Nike could offer Farah a large increase in money, a big house in Oregon, Salazar as a full-time coach and better training partners in athletes like Rupp, who would finish second to Farah in that Olympic 10,000m final at London 2012.

Nike would pay for Salazar, who would also act as a consultant for British athletics. And Nike would also provide support for Farah and his group to train anywhere in the world, altitude training camps in Kenya and Ethiopia among their favoured destinations.

Farah’s wife, Tania, was certainly encouraging her husband to move. For the family it would be life-changing.

And according to sources even Storey said he should probably go.

He just raised one concern to the impressionable Farah.

Zola Budd (centre) leads Slaney (right)) shortly before they collided during the 1984 3,000m women's final

Rupp and Farah celebrate winning silver and gold in the 10,000m to send the Olympic Stadium into raptures

He knew about Salazar’s link to Slaney, about her positive test all those years ago, about Salazar’s reputation for pushing boundaries, and it concerned him.

He urged Farah to check out the American, something the athlete neither confirms nor denies.

Presumably Farah asked senior officials at British Athletics, and presumably they told him they had done their due diligence and were comfortable with him making the switch. By February 2011, Farah was living and training in America, with Salazar his coach and Rupp his new training partner.

And 18 months later, all three men were celebrating the night of their lives, as Farah and Rupp took an unforgettable 1-2 in the London Olympics 10,000m, under Salazar’s guidance.

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