Farah says he has 'suffered' from Salazar links

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AFP London
Last Updated : Feb 22 2020 | 10:22 PM IST

Mo Farah says he has suffered "financially and emotionally" from his association with disgraced coach Alberto Salazar, who is banned from athletics for four years over doping violations.

The American coach, who is appealing against his sanction at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, led the Nike Oregon Project, which included British distance runner Farah among its stable of athletes between 2011 and 2017.

It was shut down after Salazar's ban, imposed in October by the US Anti-Doping Agency.

Four-time Olympic champion Farah, said in January he would have ended the relationship with Salazar much sooner had he known the coach was facing a ban.

But, speaking to The Times, Farah, who will bid for a third successive 10,000-metres Olympic title in Tokyo this year, has suggested some sponsors have turned their back on him due to headlines highlighting his Salazar links.

He said: "If I wasn't Mo Farah and I saw Mo Farah and I'm seeing these headlines, I'd question... yeah, I'd ask the same questions.

"I don't want to go into any more detail but there's been a lot of stuff, financially and emotionally, where I have suffered a lot."
"If I had realised there was going to be a problem, I would have been out (sooner). But I was faced with someone who had helped me in my career, to get me where I was, and you have the right to talk to him and look him in the eye."
"He also hadn't been found guilty. And it wasn't just about me. As a single man I could have just said 'move'. But I had four kids, three at school, my wife's there, we'd bought a house. I'm not just going to say, 'There's been some allegations, we're going.'"

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First Published: Feb 22 2020 | 10:22 PM IST

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