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One of the indirect consequences of the suspension of Alberto Salazar, the most famous athletic trainer in the world: Nike, who financed his training center, is entangled in a doping case that affects his CEO suspected of to have encouraged illegal practices.
" As a runner, I was horrified and shocked that it was possible ": these few words written by the boss of Nike Mark Parker, himself a passionate athlete, in a message to employees of the group testify to his embarrassment.
Here he is forced to react after the revelations of USADA, the US anti-doping agency. The report revealed this week after six years of investigation reveals the slippages committed by Alberto Salazar, coach of many stars of the background and the middle distance, including the British of Somali origin Mo Farah , multiple world and Olympic champion out of 5,000 and 10,000 meters. Experiments with testosterone and other dangerous products, amino acid injections, falsified medical documents. So many illegal practices in the Oregon Project (a very high-level training group in the northwestern United States), unbeknownst to athletes, says USADA boss Travis Tygart. dosages, if allowed or forbidden, these athletes were " laboratory animals ," says the anti-doping agency.
Mark Parker aware
Information that can only question the role of Nike which partly finances this project created in 2001 to promote the elite of long-distance foot races under the leadership of Alberto Salazar.
How was this former Cuban-born athlete, triple winner of the New York Marathon (nicknamed " Mr. Persistance "), set up a system worthy of East Germany's training centers? the dark era of doping orchestrated by the communist regime? In a 2009 email, a doctor at the Nike Oregon Project talks about experiments with testosterone gel. In another email dated 2011, Alberto Salazar talks about the injection of a mixture of animated acids and glucose at a dose much higher than the regulations of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
And this is where the file thickens, these two messages had for destination: the CEO of Nike. In one of his answers, he wrote that "it would be interesting to determine the minimum amount of male hormone required to trigger a positive test ". Mark Parker defends himself today: "Since these experiments were performed under the supervision of a doctor, I had no reason to think they were not following the rules ."
The hidden face of sport
Beyond any possible court action, it is obvious that this accumulation of embarrassing revelations will only harm the reputation of a brand that has built its success on such sports stars as Serena Williams, Michael Jordan and currently in the Cristiano Ronaldo football, Neymar or Kylian Mbappé. The group used to support its athletes even in difficult times, as was the case of basketball player Kobe Bryant, accused of rape, golfer Tiger Woods caught in an adultery scandal, or tennis player Maria Sharapova , convinced of doping. At first, Nike had supported Alberto Salazar in his decision to appeal his suspension for 4 years by the US anti-doping agency.
►Also read: Salazar case: Nike's CEO sweeps the idea of an internal doping system
This certainly partial turnaround certainly reflects the concern of a group that achieves 10 billion turnover and accumulates records in the financial markets. But the shoe champion may not be so easy. " Nike must be publicly accountable, " said Lauren Fleshman, a former American athlete who wore the colors of the brand. " If you advertise the purity of sport while financing the hidden side that undermines it, that's a problem. "