Exclusive
Mo calls quits
Mo Farah splits with controversial coach Alberto Salazar and Nike Oregon Project to return to Britain
British distance legend will now team up with Gary Lough when he moves back to London in January
SIR MO FARAH has split with long-term coach Alberto Salazar - and is moving back to Britain.
The British distance star, who retired from the track this summer to step up to the marathon event, will now link up with Gary Lough who coached wife Paula Radcliffe to world-record success over the 26.2 mile event.
8
And Farah insists the move to finally sever links with the Nike Oregon Project and the controversial figure of Salazar is because he wanted to move back home to London and make a fresh start as he takes on his new challenge on the roads.
Farah, 34, who won double Olympic gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016 and has six world titles, will return home to the UK in January with wife Tanya and four children joining him from the USA later next year.
He moved to Portland in Oregon to work with Salazar in 2011 - going on to become one of the world's greatest distance stars on the track.
But a BBC documentary aired in June 2015 claimed that Salazar was involved in doping American athlete Rupp, a training partner of Farah's who won Olympic 10,000m at London 2012 behind the British star, as far back as 2002.
8
8
8
Latest sports news
Rupp and Salazar continue to deny the allegations despite still being investigated by US doping chiefs.
Farah has never been accused of doping but admitted two years ago his name was being dragged through the mud as a result of his association with the Cuban coach.
MOVING ON Mo Farah to move back to London for quality time with family after Salazar split
Salazar is himself a former marathon runner but Farah now wants a coach who can work with him full-time on a one-on-one basis.
Lough, who Farah has known since he was 16, will travel to Ethiopia with him next Spring for altitude training which Salazar has been unable to do in recent years, not even coming to the World Championships in London this summer to guide his superstar athlete.
Mo Farah says cheating athletes should be banned for life
8
8
8
8
Mo Farah and his wife Tania talk about the oxygen tent he sleeps in during interview on This Morning
Farah will make his first serious outing over the marathon event in London in April. Radcliffe broke her own world record there in 2003, a mark of 2:15.25 which still stands.
Farah is only too aware of the challenges of the marathon - having finished eighth when he made his debut over the distance in London in 2014 clocking a relatively pedestrian 2:08.21- and knows it will take time to take on the best in the world despite the weight of public expectation on him.
But he believes working with Lough on a regular basis will provide the right working environment to do that.
Most read in sport
Topics