Panorama 2020 E07
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CreativityTranscript
00:00How did it go from this, to this?
00:18Tonight the downfall of Alberto Salazar who coached Sir Mo Farah to glory, a coach who
00:24wanted to win at all costs.
00:27You do not stand up to Alberto.
00:29If you do, you're a negative person.
00:31You're out.
00:32We reveal new evidence about Salazar.
00:35We were asked to take on risks that would affect our long-term health.
00:42And fresh questions about Salazar's relationship with Britain's greatest track athlete.
00:48There's a line and I think the question has to be asked, have we stepped into an area
00:52of grey?
01:14The downfall of one of the most powerful coaches in sports began with those he was once closest
01:20to.
01:22This is Cara and Adam Goucher.
01:25Back in 2015, they'd helped me investigate Alberto Salazar, an investigation that led
01:32to him being banned from athletics.
01:35I've come back to Boulder, Colorado to meet up with Cara and Adam Goucher.
01:40It's been more than four and a half years since they first broke their silence, became
01:46whistleblowers about what they saw at the Nike Oregon Project.
01:51They've got more to tell me and I want to know what's happened to them since they blew
01:55the whistle on Salazar and his methods.
01:58Hey Cara.
01:59How are you?
02:00Long time.
02:01Nice to see you.
02:02How are you?
02:03Good.
02:04Come on in.
02:05Thanks very much.
02:06Yeah.
02:07It's taken a huge toll on me, I would say, yeah.
02:10Having to testify, we get the good news, we get that he's found guilty and then there's
02:15still backlash and there's death threats and there's stuff.
02:18It's just never ending.
02:19Being out in front of people and actually trying to stand up for something and the ridicule
02:23you'll get and how harsh people are and just like, it's tough.
02:28It's not like, it's not fun.
02:32But standing up for what you believe in is essential.
02:35Do you have any regrets about it?
02:38I don't regret it because the more, the longer I stayed silent, I was protecting their secrets
02:46and I was allowing it to continue.
02:49The Gouchers once revered Salazar, but now say they realize he had a powerful hold over
02:55them.
02:56How much control would you say he exerted over an athlete's life and your life in particular?
03:03My life specifically, he had total control of my life.
03:07It had gotten to the point towards the end where it was causing conflict between myself
03:09and my husband.
03:11Whatever he asked me to do, I was going to do it.
03:14Because that was the culture, you do not stand up to Alberto.
03:18If you do, you're a negative person, you're out.
03:20I bought into his lies and I'm disappointed in myself that, you know, I can look back
03:24and go, what the hell?
03:25Why didn't I just see through it?
03:26Why didn't, you know?
03:28My career ended a lot earlier than it should have.
03:32And I wish I could have that back.
03:36Alberto Salazar's fall from grace has been spectacular.
03:42His career-long relationship with Nike began as a high-profile runner in the 80s.
03:50He was famed for pushing himself harder than any of his rivals.
03:54As a coach, Nike funded his dream of establishing the world's most elite running group, the
04:00Nike Oregon Project.
04:02Mo Farah joined the project in 2011.
04:14Under Salazar, he was unbeatable.
04:19The London 2012 Olympics were Salazar's crowning moment when his athletes took gold and silver.
04:26Mo Farah produces the goods.
04:29Three years later, My Panorama revealed doping allegations against Salazar.
04:34We're trying to figure out how much testosterone would trigger a positive test.
04:39He's sort of a win-at-all-costs person.
04:42It's hurting the sport.
04:45UK Athletics, the sport's governing body here, launched a review.
04:50It found no reason to be concerned with Salazar coaching its greatest asset.
04:55And Mo Farah stood by his coach for another two and a half years.
05:00I'm not leaving Alberto for the reason that I've not seen any clear evidence.
05:06In the US, the anti-doping agency USADA took a different view.
05:11It launched an investigation.
05:14It was led by Travis Teigart, who behind closed doors in 2017 charged Salazar with a series
05:20of doping violations.
05:22I think he abused his position in a coach and a position as a special duty to care for
05:30athletes.
05:31This was much more nuanced, much more manipulative and controlled to ensure that you got right
05:36to that line.
05:38And they crossed the line, there's no doubt about that.
05:41But do it in a manner that you had the lowest chance of actually getting caught.
05:45USADA's charges went before a panel.
05:48Its ruling came in October last year.
05:51So Mo Farah's former coach, Alberto Salazar, has been found guilty of breaking anti-doping
05:56rules and will be banned from the sport for four years.
06:00Although he was cleared of using banned drugs or methods on any of his athletes, Salazar
06:06was found guilty of using a prohibited method to infuse a supplement, tampering with his
06:12athlete's doping control process and trafficking testosterone, a banned steroid.
06:19Salazar's ban was announced during the world championships in Doha.
06:25He left the competition in disgrace.
06:31Mo Farah once again found himself the focus of the story.
06:34And headlines, Farah, Farah, Farah.
06:38As I said, there's no allegation against me.
06:40I've not done anything wrong.
06:42This allegation is about, let's be clear here, it's about Alberto Salazar and Oregon Project.
06:48He says this is about Alberto, it's not about me.
06:50How do you view that?
06:51Sorry Mo, it is about you, you know.
06:55I can see why he doesn't want to talk about it.
06:57And why he doesn't want it to be defined by, you know, his legacy to be defined by Alberto.
07:03But ultimately he chose to team up and pair and be with Alberto in that group.
07:10And now you have to face the consequences.
07:14Five months after Salazar was banned, I've been discovering more about controversial
07:19methods used by him and a doctor who treated Nike athletes.
07:23Methods which some of those athletes say have left a lasting physical and mental impact.
07:29I think the problem with the Oregon Project was that we were asked to take on risks that
07:36would affect our long-term health that we did not sign up for.
07:48This is Ari Lambie racing Kara Goucher.
07:52She joined the Oregon Project in 2008.
07:56Rhymes and Goucher are right together.
07:58Ari says Salazar ignored her warnings that he was overtraining her and she was soon injured
08:04and fatigued.
08:05She's never spoken publicly before.
08:08I was regularly expressing concern that we were putting my body at risk.
08:14He would repeatedly tell me, you need to commit, you need to believe in this program
08:20or I'm not going to coach you.
08:22I went through a battery of testing.
08:26One of the first interventions that I did was get onto thyroid medication.
08:33Salazar sent Ari to Jeffrey Brown, a doctor he brought onto the Nike payroll.
08:39Dr. Brown prescribed her thyroid drugs, even though there was no medical need.
08:45He tested my thyroid.
08:47My thyroid was in the normal range.
08:50So I was prescribed the full dose of thyroid, meaning the amount that is given to someone
08:55whose thyroid does not work at all.
08:59So within a few weeks, I could feel jittery.
09:02I could feel my heart beating like louder and faster.
09:07I was just uneasy, as tired or more tired than before.
09:13And mentally, I was distraught.
09:17But it just felt horrible.
09:22Thyroid medication isn't banned, but many anti-doping agencies think it should be
09:27because some athletes have abused it, believing it can help burn fat.
09:31Dr. Nikki Kaye is a specialist in sports medicine.
09:35The thyroid gland, it actually lives in your neck and it controls metabolism.
09:40So it keeps hormones, in particular we're talking about thyroxine,
09:44which is what the thyroid gland produces, in a sort of a normal range,
09:48a range of optimal functioning for health and athletic performance, sports performance.
09:53Too much thyroxine in the body will lead to an increased impulse rate,
09:57potentially cardiac arrhythmias, irregular heartbeat,
09:59and in the longer term, potentially adverse effects on bone health.
10:04So basically, it's a big risk to give anybody extra thyroxine
10:09when there's no clear indication that they need it.
10:14Adam Goucher was seen by Dr. Brown before either of them joined The Organ Project
10:20and says he too was given thyroid drugs.
10:23He says he was on medication he didn't need for a decade.
10:27Because I was on it for that period of time, how do I know that five years from now,
10:32I'm not something, I'm not feeling effects or something happens because of that?
10:36There's this, you don't know.
10:38It's just like you're messing with people's lives.
10:43Ari Lambie never got back to full strength.
10:48This was her last race for Nike in 2009.
10:53Maybe I still do wonder if it was all those interventions
10:57that prevented me, my body, from actually recovering.
11:01What was hardest for me was that Alberto never admitted that he did anything to harm me,
11:09anything wrong.
11:11But before Nike terminated her contract,
11:14she says Salazar had one final request for her.
11:18I was given a supplement to take and then give Alberto urine that he could test
11:25to find out if it would presumably test positive on some result.
11:33But I don't know what the substance was.
11:35So he effectively asked you to trial a supplement to see whether you would fail a drugs test?
11:43I believe so, yes.
11:45It confirms in my mind that Alberto was not acting in the spirit of the rules.
11:52Of the rules.
11:53He was always trying to get as close to breaking them as he could
11:58for his advantage to his athletes without getting caught.
12:05In a statement, Alberto Salazar said,
12:08the panel made clear that I simply had made unintentional mistakes that violated the rules,
12:13apparently motivated by my desire to provide the very best results
12:18and training for athletes under my care.
12:21At no time did I give any supplement to any Oregon Project athlete
12:25for the purpose of determining whether that supplement
12:28would result in a positive test for a banned substance.
12:34My investigation into Salazar's downfall has unearthed some new evidence
12:38raising fresh questions about Salazar's relationship with Mo Farah and UK Athletics.
12:44Salazar had found what he thought was a wonder supplement for his athletes,
12:49a legal substance called L-carnitine.
12:53L-carnitine is naturally occurring in the muscles,
12:57but Salazar found research suggesting injecting it directly into the veins
13:02boosts fat burning and prevents muscle fatigue.
13:10This story starts with another of the most controversial cases
13:13and starts with another of the Oregon Project whistleblowers,
13:16Steve Magnus, who coached under Salazar.
13:19All right, let's keep it going now.
13:23Steve spoke to Panorama in 2015
13:26and then became the US anti-doping agency's chief witness against his former mentor.
13:32Steve was given an infusion of L-carnitine in 2011.
13:38I was the test subject, I was the guinea pig.
13:43Basically by doing a treadmill test to exhaustion before and then after.
13:48And that data came back on me as significant improvement.
13:53So it was, you know, it was definitely there.
13:58Alberto was super excited.
14:01My understanding was that the L-carnitine wasn't against any,
14:07it wasn't a banned substance.
14:09And I asked Dr. Brown and Alberto, like, this is all legal.
14:14They both were like, yep, we're good.
14:18It was only legal up to a certain level, 50 millilitres every six hours.
14:24Anything over counted as a banned method under anti-doping rules.
14:29Dr. Brown gave Steve at least 10 times that amount.
14:34I still remember the conversation I had with my parents when I asked,
14:39when they asked me about this at the time it was going on.
14:43I was like, oh, it's like, don't worry, like, Dr. Brown's got it.
14:51I mean, that was my reply.
14:54Because you trusted him?
14:55Yeah.
14:58Salazar then arranged for Dr. Brown to give six of his athletes an infusion
15:03here at Brown's practice in Texas.
15:06Both told you, Sada, they'd lowered the volume to within the legal limits.
15:12The experiment on Steve counted as a banned method
15:15and resulted in anti-doping rule violations for Salazar and Dr. Brown.
15:21In that environment, it was all about performance, performance, performance.
15:26And no one was standing over there thinking like, well,
15:31what's the health risk of this?
15:34Five of the fastest 10 runners in history on this start line next to Mo.
15:39What you're going to hear about now might not have been against the rules,
15:43but was it against the spirit of the sport?
15:48This was Mo Farah's first ever marathon in 2014.
15:52Two days before, he was given L-carnitine intravenously.
16:01And on their feet here in the home straight,
16:03giving their hero a big welcome.
16:05Is it going to be an English record?
16:07It will be.
16:08Two hours eight and 20 for Mo Farah.
16:12News of an injection leaked in 2017.
16:16At the time, MPs were looking into doping in sport
16:19and called Mo Farah's medical team before them to explain.
16:23Dr. Rob Chakravarty was then UK Athletics Chief Medical Officer.
16:28Barry Fudge is the governing body's head of distance running.
16:32Barry and I, as the head of medicine and head of science,
16:35would have to agree that it was appropriate to do.
16:39And then you'd look at, are there any risks of doing any side effects?
16:43I hadn't heard of it before, if I'm honest.
16:46You know, I need to look into it.
16:48So I went off and did my own research
16:50before I felt comfortable that this was the right thing to do.
16:53They said it could aid Mo Farah's performance
16:56and was within the rules.
16:58But I've discovered MPs weren't told the whole story.
17:02Panorama has obtained emails
17:04written in the days leading up to the marathon,
17:06which reveal UK Athletics officials
17:09expressed concerns about the L-carnitine proposal.
17:13In one, Barry Fudge wrote...
17:15Whilst the process is completely within the World Anti-Doping Code,
17:19there is a philosophical argument
17:20about whether this is within the spirit of the sport.
17:24Although Alberto and Mo have expectations about doing this,
17:27we are not at a point where we can't pull out.
17:31Performance director Neil Black then wrote...
17:47Dr Chakravarti also seemed concerned about possible side effects.
17:51He wrote...
17:53It would have been better to have trialled it in someone first.
17:57He wanted to be sure it would not be contaminated.
18:00I understand Alberto Salazar is keen, very,
18:03but we should be asking him to follow this advice.
18:08Despite these reservations,
18:10they decided to go ahead with the plan.
18:14The problem, though,
18:15was that the concentrated form of the L-carnitine supplement
18:18that they wanted couldn't be sourced in the UK.
18:22And that's where Barry Fudge comes in,
18:24with a little bit of help from Alberto Salazar.
18:29The emails show that five days before the marathon,
18:32Salazar introduced Barry Fudge to a contact of his
18:35who could order batch-tested L-carnitine in the form needed.
18:39And so Barry Fudge jumped on a plane.
18:43To Switzerland.
18:44Barry Fudge picked up a hire car at Zurich airport
18:47and drove 80 miles south to here,
18:50a town called Vorb,
18:51where an old friend of Salazar has a family connection
18:55to a pharmaceutical company.
18:57This pharmaceutical company, in fact.
18:59Barry Fudge was told to go directly to Salazar's friend's home,
19:03just a few miles from here,
19:05where he collected a package
19:07which contained vials of injectable L-carnitine.
19:13Barry Fudge brought the package back
19:14to the official hotel for the London Marathon.
19:17There was no time to trial it on anyone.
19:20Mofara was given four injections over nearly two hours.
19:24Dr Chakravarty was flown in to administer them.
19:28Salazar was also there.
19:30Just two days before the race, in this hotel,
19:33the L-carnitine, a legal supplement,
19:35was injected into the arm of Mofara,
19:38with Alberto Salazar looking on.
19:42The whole enterprise would come to the attention
19:44of the US Anti-Doping Agency
19:46as part of their Salazar investigation.
19:50I think it's the links that people who want to win
19:54and are incentivised to win will go
19:57if they have the money and the resources to do it.
19:59And Salazar was effectively directing this?
20:02They were absolutely in concert.
20:04There's no doubt about that.
20:07Tony Minichiello coached Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill.
20:12He also sits on the UK Athletics Members' Council.
20:16The head of endurance, personally, flew to Switzerland,
20:20as directed by Salazar, to pick up an injection
20:24to bring back to Britain's greatest athlete
20:27and give him it two days before the London Marathon.
20:31That's what I was told.
20:32I was told to go to the hospital.
20:35That's pretty damning.
20:42Can we stop filming a second?
20:45I'm a little bit, I'm shocked.
20:47Because you kind of go, what is that all about?
20:51What is that?
20:52Why would you do that?
20:54Barry Fudge, in that instance, has to explain,
20:58why did you do that?
21:01What was your reasoning?
21:02What was your logic for doing that?
21:05And you're an employee of UK Athletics.
21:08So UK Athletics, why would you allow one of your staff to do that?
21:12In a statement, UK Athletics said,
21:15a small number of British athletes have used L-carnitine.
21:18And to our knowledge, all doses and methods of administration
21:21have been fully in accordance with World Anti-Doping Protocol.
21:25The dosage provided to Mo Farah
21:27was well within the 50 milliliter limit permitted.
21:30Full and honest accounts of the process were given in all forums.
21:34Any suggestion to the contrary is false and misleading.
21:38Dr. Chakravarti said he gave Mo Farah a total of 13.5 milliliters,
21:43well within the legal limits.
21:45But he failed to make any record of the injections in his medical notes.
21:50You'd think in that case,
21:51that this would really stand in the mind of the doctor.
21:53This must presumably have been an unusual occurrence
21:55that this very specific medicine was required,
21:58sourced at great difficulty,
22:01given against the initial advice of the doctor,
22:03but yet no one keeps any records of it
22:05and everyone decides to keep quiet about it.
22:07Were you satisfied with the explanations that you got from UK Athletics?
22:14Well, there was no evidence that it was over the allowable level.
22:18I can't say we were satisfied because we would have preferred
22:21and I think what would have been custom here in the United States,
22:24at least to be the exact amount that was done contemporaneous
22:28with the day and the time that it was provided and we didn't receive those.
22:32There's a line and I think the question has to be asked is,
22:36have we stepped into an area of grey
22:38where our morals need to be looked at how we're treating people and so on.
22:43In a statement, Dr. Chakravarti said,
22:46I have not contravened any world anti-doping rules
22:49and have always acted in the best interests of those I treat.
22:52The evidence I provided to MPs was an honest account,
22:56including an acknowledgement that my usual standard of record keeping
23:00slipped due to heavy work commitments and travel.
23:02The GMC reviewed this and concluded that the case required no further action.
23:07Alberto Salazar said,
23:09No Oregon Project athlete used a medication against the spirit of the sport.
23:14Any medication taken was done so on the advice
23:17and under the supervision of registered medical professionals.
23:21When drugs tested,
23:22athletes are required to list all medications
23:25and supplements they've taken within the past seven days.
23:29Mo Farah was tested six days after the injections.
23:32He failed to record L-carnitine on his doping control form.
23:37In 2015, USADA's investigators flew to London
23:40to interview UK athletics officials and Mo Farah.
23:46Mo Farah was questioned by USADA here at this hotel for nearly five hours
23:51and we now know exactly what was said.
23:54Asked multiple times and very specifically
23:57about whether he had L-carnitine injections ahead of the London Marathon,
24:01Mo Farah completely denied it.
24:05If someone said that you were taking L-carnitine injections,
24:09are they not telling the truth?
24:11Definitely not telling the truth, 100%.
24:14I've never taken L-carnitine injections at all.
24:16Are you sure that Alberto Salazar hasn't recommended
24:19that you take L-carnitine injections?
24:22No, I've never taken L-carnitine injections.
24:26You're absolutely sure?
24:27You didn't have a doctor inject L-carnitine a few days before the London Marathon?
24:32No, no chance.
24:36We've learned that just after the interview,
24:39Mo Farah met Barry Fudge,
24:41who'd already been spoken to by USADA investigators.
24:44Mo Farah then rushed back in just as the investigators were packing up.
24:48He then changed his account and told them that he had, in fact,
24:52received an L-carnitine injection ahead of the London Marathon.
24:58So I just wanted to come clear, sorry guys,
25:00and I did take it at the time and I thought I didn't.
25:04So you received L-carnitine before the London Marathon?
25:08Yeah, there was a lot of talk before.
25:11Yeah, there was a lot of talk before.
25:14And Alberto's always thinking about,
25:16what's the best thing?
25:17What's the best thing?
25:19A few days before the race,
25:21with Alberto present and your doctor and Barry Fudge,
25:24and you're telling us all about that now,
25:27but you didn't remember any of that when I kept asking you about this?
25:30It all comes back for me.
25:32But at the time, I didn't remember.
25:35It's kept from probably other people at UK Athletics that he's taken it.
25:38No records are kept.
25:40And you'd ask the question, well, why?
25:43Clearly, if he's taking medicines to enhance performance,
25:46there's ethical questions that that raises about sport.
25:49I think this is something that should be looked at in some seriousness.
25:52Sir Mo Farah declined to be interviewed.
25:55In a letter, his lawyers said,
25:57it is not against world anti-doping rules
25:59to take L-carnitine as a supplement within the right quantities.
26:03The fact some people might hold views
26:05as to whether this is within the spirit of the sport is irrelevant.
26:09Mr Farah is one of the most tested athletes in the UK, if not the world,
26:13and has been required to fill in numerous doping forms.
26:16He is a human being and not a robot.
26:19That is relevant if in fact something was missed from the form.
26:23Interviews are not memory tests.
26:25Mr Farah understood the question one way,
26:27and as soon as he left the room,
26:29he asked Mr Fudge and immediately returned to clarify.
26:32And it is plain the investigators were comfortable with this explanation.
26:36After Salazar's ban was announced in October,
26:39Nike closed down its Oregon project,
26:42but is supporting his appeal against the ban.
26:46I mean, they ought to step back and say,
26:48right, we like we made some really bad decisions.
26:52And there was some conduct that happened on our campus,
26:56bad behavior that put athletes in a harmful position,
27:00and say they're sorry,
27:02and then invest and ensure that something like that never happens again.
27:06UK Athletics is reviewing its decision to allow Salazar
27:09to continue working with Mo Farah
27:11after Panorama's evidence was first aired in 2015.
27:15Performance director Neil Black has already resigned.
27:20I think it leaves UK Athletics in a very difficult position.
27:22And this seems to me that UK Athletics effectively gave Alberto Salazar
27:29sort of total control over the preparation of the project.
27:33Over the preparation and training of some of our most celebrated athletes,
27:39with not very much oversight from people at UK Athletics as to what they were doing,
27:43and whether they were acting in the best interest of either the sport
27:46or that individual athlete.
27:47And that's a failing on their part.
27:51Mo Farah will this summer return to the track to defend his Olympic titles.
27:57You think Farah's legacy is damaged?
28:00I personally do.
28:01Yes, I think he should have left as soon as he found out.
28:04Yes.
28:05Do you think your own legacy has been damaged?
28:07Yes, I do.
28:09But I knew that from the beginning.
28:12The minute I went public,
28:14everything I had worked so hard for would be questioned.
28:16And that'll keep a person quiet, right?
28:20Overall, how damaging to sport of athletics has this Salazar episode been?
28:29You can view that two ways.
28:32Is it damaging to the sport,
28:34or is it the watershed moment where the sport gets better?
28:38I think this is a moment for us to clean house.
28:47Last year's finalists are back,
28:49but this time they weren't feeding.
28:51It's the new series MasterChef begins next.
28:53And how to catch a killer,
28:54follow the critical first two days of a murder investigation.
28:58Murder 24-7 over on BBC2.