For more than four years, trusting Alberto Salazar , star coach of Nike, was an act of blind faith. The BBC and ProPublica revealed in June 2015 that the technician illegally used testosterone and L-carnitine to increase the performance of his athletes and since then the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) maintained an investigation on him that ended on Tuesday with a sanction Exemplary: Salazar may not work in athletics for the next four years. The punishment of the former Mo Farah coach was expected and in fact runners like Jenny Simpson , current world runner-up of 1,500 meters, celebrated.
That is why in the tartan it is not understood that, in the middle of the hurricane, after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the Dutchwoman of Ethiopian origin Sifan Hassan left for the United States to train with Salazar and thus allowed her name to be left forever. Because now he lives his great moment, last Saturday he won in the 10,000 meters of the Doha World Cup and this Saturday (19.55 hours, TDP) is the 1,500 meter favorite, but nobody talks about his historic double. She should be the queen of the championship, but she's just another athlete to suspect.
«I am shocked by the news [of Salazar's suspension]. I would like to clarify that the research was focused on the period before I joined your group and has nothing to do with me. I knew the research before my incorporation, but I always had a clear conscience because all my steps were controlled by the USADA. I am saddened at the moment when the USADA has decided to publish the sanction because it affects my performance in the World Cup, ”said Hassan, about which there has never been any direct evidence of doping. His only mistake was to put himself in the hands of Salazar, with whom his career took off: from being fifth in the 1,500 meters of the 2016 Rio Games to wiping out this Doha World Cup with an exaggerated superiority.
Now the Dutch Federation tries to return to the country and start training with its coach, Charles van Commenee , but it is a complicated task. Hassan has always worked for free and, in fact, is an enigma for his teammates and for Dutch athletics fans. From it, it is only known that at the age of 15 he arrived at the center of asylum seekers in Zuidlaren, who was eight months internal and then received a permit to live in Holland as a refugee, but has always hidden why and how he arrived in the country.
Even in the few in-depth interviews he has granted, he has only revealed that he no longer has a relationship with his family in Ethiopia and that he would like to talk to his mother or grandmother again, but if he did he would have to stop running. «My job would seem ridiculous, they wouldn't accept it. They would not accept that he ran and unless he did it with shorts and hair in full view of the world, ”he acknowledged a few years ago to De Volkskrant where he admitted his discomfort as a Muslim for having to compete showing legs and shoulders and for not being able to use The hijab "I would ballast in competition," he admitted.
«I am a midfielder and in this World Cup I wanted to see if I could win over longer distances. Well, I've already done it, ”said Hassan after winning the 10,000 meters and raising Holland in history: in the previous 15 editions the country had only celebrated three golds - two of them by Dafne Schipper s in the 200 meters - and on this occasion you can receive two at once. But always, always, the suspicion will remain.
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