Galen Rupp is considered one of the best American distance runners of the 21st century, but he has not been able to secure a win on the podium since 2020 at the Olympic Trials.
Some speculate Rupp is struggling without his former coach, Alberto Salazar.
Salazar was a former world-record holder in the men’s marathon, a three-time champion in New York and the Boston champion in 1982. He discovered Rupp while watching him play high school soccer in Portland, Oregon. Salazar immediately realized Rupp had the speed and endurance to become a successful long-distance runner and took Rupp under his wing.
In 2001, Salazar founded the Nike Oregon project, a distance running team with the goal to develop athletes that could beat the dominant East Africans in the biggest meets. After Rupp’s impressive track career at the University of Oregon, he was invited to join.
At the 2012 Olympics hosted in London, Rupp ran alongside teammate Mo Farah of Britain. They secured first and second place in the 10,000-meter race from the Kenyans and Ethiopians.
A week later, Rupp finished seventh in the 5,000-meter race. Surging with confidence, Rupp went on to win both the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Trials, a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro marathon, and came first in the 2017 Chicago Marathon, completing it in one of the world’s fastest times.
Rupp was unstoppable, however in 2019, after years of investigations and lawsuits, Salazar received a four-year coaching ban from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for doping-related offenses, trafficking testosterone, and tampering with the doping control process.
In the same year, Salazar was investigated yet again after two female athletes he coached, Mary Cain and Amy Yoder Begley, claimed Salazar publicly mocked and body-shamed them when they were running for the Oregon project.
Salazar has been a beneficial figure in Rupp’s rise to success, but now Salazar has been shunned from society. Since Rupp has been a close friend to Salazar, it is only natural that people question Rupp’s involvement.
“I think we should evaluate his career like everyone else but with more skepticism since one athlete is tied more closely to Alberto than anyone else and that is Galen Rupp,” Weldon Johnson, once one of the top distance runners in the country and a co-founder of Letsrun.com, said last week. “Based on performance, he’s the greatest American male long-distance runner of his generation, since Steve Prefontaine probably.”
Luckily, these were mere rumors.
Since Salazar’s absence Rupp has been running into bad luck. He told Runner’s World last month he has battled back pain for a year, and in the spring, doctors diagnosed a herniated disc and pinched nerve. Additionally, he had Covid-19 last month.
Elite racing will never be as simple as competing in races for athletes like Rupp. There will always be controversies against them and illnesses preventing them from playing. Nevertheless, Rupp has the instincts and integrity of a champion that can help him overcome setbacks.
Sources:
Galen Rupp places 19th in World Athletics Championships marathon | kgw.com
Boston Marathon Men’s Preview: Can Galen Rupp Win 35 Years After His Coach? – FloTrack
Can Galen Rupp Outrun the Shadow of a Disgraced Former Coach? – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Some speculate Rupp is struggling without his former coach, Alberto Salazar.
Salazar was a former world-record holder in the men’s marathon, a three-time champion in New York and the Boston champion in 1982. He discovered Rupp while watching him play high school soccer in Portland, Oregon. Salazar immediately realized Rupp had the speed and endurance to become a successful long-distance runner and took Rupp under his wing.
In 2001, Salazar founded the Nike Oregon project, a distance running team with the goal to develop athletes that could beat the dominant East Africans in the biggest meets. After Rupp’s impressive track career at the University of Oregon, he was invited to join.
At the 2012 Olympics hosted in London, Rupp ran alongside teammate Mo Farah of Britain. They secured first and second place in the 10,000-meter race from the Kenyans and Ethiopians.
A week later, Rupp finished seventh in the 5,000-meter race. Surging with confidence, Rupp went on to win both the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Trials, a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro marathon, and came first in the 2017 Chicago Marathon, completing it in one of the world’s fastest times.
Rupp was unstoppable, however in 2019, after years of investigations and lawsuits, Salazar received a four-year coaching ban from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for doping-related offenses, trafficking testosterone, and tampering with the doping control process.
In the same year, Salazar was investigated yet again after two female athletes he coached, Mary Cain and Amy Yoder Begley, claimed Salazar publicly mocked and body-shamed them when they were running for the Oregon project.
Salazar has been a beneficial figure in Rupp’s rise to success, but now Salazar has been shunned from society. Since Rupp has been a close friend to Salazar, it is only natural that people question Rupp’s involvement.
“I think we should evaluate his career like everyone else but with more skepticism since one athlete is tied more closely to Alberto than anyone else and that is Galen Rupp,” Weldon Johnson, once one of the top distance runners in the country and a co-founder of Letsrun.com, said last week. “Based on performance, he’s the greatest American male long-distance runner of his generation, since Steve Prefontaine probably.”
Luckily, these were mere rumors.
Since Salazar’s absence Rupp has been running into bad luck. He told Runner’s World last month he has battled back pain for a year, and in the spring, doctors diagnosed a herniated disc and pinched nerve. Additionally, he had Covid-19 last month.
Elite racing will never be as simple as competing in races for athletes like Rupp. There will always be controversies against them and illnesses preventing them from playing. Nevertheless, Rupp has the instincts and integrity of a champion that can help him overcome setbacks.
Sources:
Galen Rupp places 19th in World Athletics Championships marathon | kgw.com
Boston Marathon Men’s Preview: Can Galen Rupp Win 35 Years After His Coach? – FloTrack
Can Galen Rupp Outrun the Shadow of a Disgraced Former Coach? – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
