Oct 7, 2019
Last Monday September 30th, USADA announced a 4-year ban for
Albert Salazar and Dr. Jeffrey Brown for doping violations
associated with their work within the Nike Oregon
Project.
In this interview with Chris McClung, Kara and Adam Goucher
tell the story of their 6-year journey to support USADA's case.
Kara is a co-host for the Clean Sport Collective podcast, and Adam
shared his perspective on the fight for clean sport in episode #9.
Both Olympians, they know what it is like to compete at the highest
levels in track and field while also being robbed of achievement by
drug cheats.
In 2011, everything changed for them when they realized their
own coach and training group were participating in suspicious
activity. Neither could have suspected the extreme challenges that
would come from simply telling the truth.
In this discussion with Kara and Adam, we talk about all of
those challenges and the implications of this decision on the fight
for clean sport, including:
- Their initial reactions to the Salazar and Brown
decisions
- Their perspectives on the reactions of others including
Nike
- When they first saw suspicious activity within the Nike
Oregon Project and why they decided to come forward
- What life is like as a whistleblower and what it was like to
testify in this case, including the stress and impact on their own
family
- Their reactions to those who would question Kara's own
intentions or integrity or accuse her of cheating herself
- What she would like to see happen with the Nike Oregon
Project and its athletes
- What consumers can do to support the fight for clean sport
in the wake of these decisions
- What this means for their future and the future of clean
sport
This is a powerful interview about a very difficult journey
for Adam and Kara. As an organization that is passionate about
clean sport, we are proud to have them on our team and especially
proud that their commitment to telling the truth led to this
victory for clean sport.
Details of each decision from
USADA:
Other recent interviews with Kara on these
decisions: