Mo Farah Leaves Nike Oregon Project To Move Back To London
Mo Farah Leaves Nike Oregon Project To Move Back To London
Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah is leaving the Nike Oregon Project to move back home to England.
Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah announced on Monday that he is leaving the Nike Oregon Project and his coach, Alberto Salazar, to move with his family back to their hometown of London. The Briton's new coach will be Gary Lough, who mentored Paula Radcliffe to set the women's world record for the marathon.
Farah made his announcement in a video posted to Twitter.
In a report published today by the Sun, Farah denies that the move has anything to do with an ongoing USADA investigation into whether Salazar has used performance-enhancing drugs to provide an illegal boost to NOP athletes.
According to the Sun, Farah said:
"This situation has been going on for over two years, if I was going to leave because of that I would have done.
"As I've always said, I am firm believer in clean sport and I strongly believe that anyone who breaks the rules should be punished. If Alberto had crossed the line I would be out the door but USADA (U.S. Anti Doping) has not charged him with anything. If I had ever had any reason to doubt Alberto, I would not have stood by him all this time.
"I'm leaving simply because my family and I are moving back to London. We all loved spending our summer here and Tania and I realised how much we have missed spending time with our friends and family - and the kids are so happy here, too.
"We want the kids to grow up in the UK. It's the right thing to do for my family. But both Nike Oregon Project and Alberto are based in the USA, so it just would not be possible to continue our relationship from London."
The eight-time world champion announced his retirement from the track this summer following his gold and silver medal performances in the 10K and 5K at the IAAF World Championships. He will race the 2018 London Marathon.
Farah made his announcement in a video posted to Twitter.
No place like home! pic.twitter.com/yv2R8IkZov
— Sir Mo Farah (@Mo_Farah) October 30, 2017
In a report published today by the Sun, Farah denies that the move has anything to do with an ongoing USADA investigation into whether Salazar has used performance-enhancing drugs to provide an illegal boost to NOP athletes.
According to the Sun, Farah said:
"This situation has been going on for over two years, if I was going to leave because of that I would have done.
"As I've always said, I am firm believer in clean sport and I strongly believe that anyone who breaks the rules should be punished. If Alberto had crossed the line I would be out the door but USADA (U.S. Anti Doping) has not charged him with anything. If I had ever had any reason to doubt Alberto, I would not have stood by him all this time.
"I'm leaving simply because my family and I are moving back to London. We all loved spending our summer here and Tania and I realised how much we have missed spending time with our friends and family - and the kids are so happy here, too.
"We want the kids to grow up in the UK. It's the right thing to do for my family. But both Nike Oregon Project and Alberto are based in the USA, so it just would not be possible to continue our relationship from London."
The eight-time world champion announced his retirement from the track this summer following his gold and silver medal performances in the 10K and 5K at the IAAF World Championships. He will race the 2018 London Marathon.