Los Angeles (AFP)
Nike, the US sports equipment giant who ended the Oregon Project at the center of the doping case leading to the suspension of coach Alberto Salazar, announced Friday that he would investigate complaints from athlete Mary Cain regarding physical and mental abuse in the group.
Cain, now 23 years old, was a young prodigy promised a bright future over long distances. She had qualified for the final of the 1500 m of the 2013 Worlds at the age of 17.
In a letter published by the New York Times on Thursday, Cain writes that she thought about committing suicide because of Salazar's and the Oregon Project's training methods. Because of the pressure, she had become "increasingly thin," she wrote. She had no menstrual period for three years and had broken five bones due to osteoporosis.
"These are very disturbing statements that have never been advanced by Mary or her parents before," Nike said in a statement Friday.
In an email to The Times, Salazar says he was taking care of Mary Cain's health and social security.
On her Twitter account, Mary Cain wrote on Friday that she was still thinking of returning to Salazar's team this summer: "Maybe if I joined the team, I would find what was happening before. have to face our demons in one way or another. "
On Oct. 11, Nike ended the Oregon Project after Salazar was suspended for "inciting" doping.
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