HBO Examines Troubling Allegations of Runner Abuse at Nike
By Ken Reed
HBO’s new episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” has a very troubling segment on runner abuse allegations at Nike. What’s especially troubling is that Nike is paying the legal costs for their disgraced and suspended running coach Alberto Salazar. Running prodigy Mary Cain, former Olympian Kara Goucher, and elite male runner Dorian Ulrey come forward to detail Nike’s controversial Oregon Project.
Goucher was the driving force behind getting Salazar banned by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Despite the fact Salazar, Nike’s long-time track coach, has been banned from coaching by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for encouraging his athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs. And despite the fact that former Nike Oregon Project runners — including Cain, Goucher and Amy Yoder Begley — have accused Salazar of abusive coaching techniques, including body-shaming them, Nike executives decided it was okay to reopen a renovated building, named after Salazar, and put images of Salazar all over the inside of the building’s walls.
And they apparently feel it’s proper to support Salazar, by not only cutting ties with him but by paying his legal defense expenses. The reason could be that Nike executives were aware of Salazar’s methods and subtly approved of them. That possibility is alluded to in the “Real Sports” story.
Here’s a clip from the HBO “Real Sports” segment.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

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Episode #5 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Youth Sports with Positive Coaching Alliance Founder Jim Thompson – Thompson started Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) in 1998 to help create a movement to transform the culture of youth sports from “win-at-all-costs” to a positive, character-building experience.
Episode #4 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Biggest Issue in Sports Today? Brain Trauma – The guest is Patrick Hruby, a journalist who has done extensive research and in-depth writing on the topic of brain trauma in sports, most notably football.
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Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
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