NKE Nike Inc

By Sara Germano and Joshua Robinson 

Nike-backed running coach Alberto Salazar on numerous occasions briefed top Nike Inc. officials, including chief executive Mark Parker, on his experiments to manipulate the use of performance-enhancing drugs for track and field athletes, according to emails referenced in reports published by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency on Monday.

The reports, prepared by the American Arbitration Association for USADA, delivered respective four-year bans for Mr. Salazar and a Nike-sponsored doctor, Jeffrey S. Brown. Together they show that Mr. Parker was made aware of Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown's ongoing work in what USADA described as "orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct."

The reports also allege that at least one of the pair's experiments -- determining whether the use of topical testosterone cream would trigger a positive doping test -- was conducted in a laboratory at Nike's headquarters.

Mr. Parker was included on several emails from Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown, detailing the pair's ongoing research to find performance-enhancing benefits for a stable of Olympic runners in the highly decorated Nike Oregon Project, an elite training group based at the company's Beaverton, Ore., headquarters.

In a July 2009 email exchange, Dr. Brown wrote to Mr. Parker to apprise the Nike chief on the testosterone experiment, in which he relayed testing varying amounts of hormonal creams on Mr. Salazar's adult sons, who aren't professional athletes.

"We tested levels in the commonly used screening at least for track and field of urinary T/E (testosterone/epitestosterone) ratios after 1 pump (1.25 grams) and 2 pumps (2.5 grams) of Androgel," Dr. Brown wrote, according to the report on his sanction, referencing the brand of testosterone cream used. "We found that even though there was a slight rise in T/E ratios, it was below the level of 4 which would trigger great concern."

Mr. Parker responded, "Jeff, thanks for the update on the tests. It will be interesting to determine the minimal amount of topical male hormone required to create a positive test. Are there other topical hormones that would create more dramatic results...or other substances that would accelerate the rate of absorption into the body?"

Testosterone is a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the global antidoping authority whose codified rules are adopted by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the International Olympic Committee, and various other national and international sports organizations.

According to the reports, Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown devised the testosterone experiment after Mr. Salazar became increasingly concerned that his athletes could be victims of sabotage by competitors. Galen Rupp, the American distance runner, testified to the arbitration panel that he felt a trainer come up to him at a May 2009 track meet and proceed to "rub something wet on his back."

USADA argues that "this same experiment can be used to further the nefarious purpose of evading doping control just as easily as it can be used for the claimed prophylactic purpose of determining the likely success of attempted sabotage."

In a separate 2011 exchange, Mr. Salazar directly informed Mr. Parker, as well as Nike's president of advanced innovation Tom Clarke and the disgraced former cyclist Lance Armstrong, of the results of another experiment with a supplement called L-Carnitine believed to improve aerobic performance. L-carnitine is a chemical compound which, while not a prohibited substance, is subject to WADA rules restricting the methods by which it can be administered and in what quantities. It wasn't clear if Mr. Parker or Mr. Clarke responded to the message.

At the time, Mr. Armstrong had retired from cycling under a cloud of suspicion, but continued to train at an elite level in triathlon, sponsored by Nike and advised by Mr. Salazar. Mr. Armstrong was banned by USADA in 2012 and publicly admitted to doping in 2013.

In a December 2011 email, Mr. Salazar wrote to Mr. Armstrong directly, "Lance, call me asap! We have tested it and it's amazing!," according to one of the reports. He continued, "It's too incredible. All completely legal and natural. You will finish the Iron Man in about 16 minutes less while taking this." Mr. Armstrong said in an email Tuesday that he never tested or tried L-carnitine.

Nike on Tuesday didn't have immediate comment on the emails included in the reports. In a statement about the USADA action late Monday, Nike said: "We support Alberto in his decision to appeal and wish him the full measure of due process that the rules require. Nike does not condone the use of banned substances in any manner."

In a statement late Monday, Mr. Salazar said that he was "shocked" by the ban and that he planned to appeal. "I have always ensured the [World Anti-Doping] code is strictly followed. The Oregon Project has never and will never permit doping," he said.

A receptionist at Dr. Brown's medical office in Houston said he wasn't immediately available early Tuesday. The endocrinologist stopped consulting for Nike in 2013, according to the reports.

Mr. Salazar's Nike Oregon Project has produced six Olympic medals between distance running stars Mo Farah of Great Britain and Rupp of the United States. The decision to ban Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown is Usada's highest-profile sanction since it banned Mr. Armstrong for life in 2012.

A spokesman for both Mr. Farah and Mr. Rupp didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The bans were announced at the height of track and field's most prominent competition outside of the Olympics, the biennial World Athletics Championships this week in Doha, Qatar, where at least seven athletes affiliated with the Nike Oregon Project are scheduled to compete. Within hours of the announcement, Mr. Salazar's pass to the stadium was rescinded, according to track and field's world governing body.

Mr. Salazar, himself a former elite runner and a Boston and New York City Marathon champion, is a close friend of Nike co-founder Phil Knight, both of whom are alumni of the track and field program at the University of Oregon. Mr. Salazar is so esteemed at Nike that one of the company's buildings at its Beaverton, Ore., campus is named for him.

Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com and Joshua Robinson at joshua.robinson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 01, 2019 13:06 ET (17:06 GMT)

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