This just in:
http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/index.ssf/2016/05/tuesday_morning_news_notes_lin_49.html
There was an interesting tweet last week from Jamaican anti-doping advocate Renee Anne Shirley suggesting the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency quietly has dropped an investigation into doping allegations made against the Nike Oregon Project and coach Alberto Salazar.
The tweet reads:
"I'm getting word that Travis & @usantidoping has dropped this & no longer pursuing the matter...Very disturbing... "
Travis, of course, is Travis Tygart, the USADA's chief executive officer.
If the USADA has closed the investigation, somebody should say so.
To review, it will be a year on Friday since the investigative website ProPublica and the BBC leveled sensational doping allegations against Salazar and the Oregon Project.
Salazar and his group then were tried, convicted and condemned in subsequent media reports. Some tried to draw a connection between the Oregon Project and disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.
The problem with the ProPublica and BBC stories is that the allegations were anecdotal and supported circumstantially if supported at all, or raised perceived ethical issues but not rules violations.
Salazar rebutted most of the allegations with a lengthy defense several weeks later that included more documentation than either ProPublica or BBC did.
This story from June 24, 2015, by the Associated Press indicated the USADA is "actively pursuing" the investigation into allegations that ... Salazar encouraged Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp and others in his stable of elite runners to skirt anti-doping rules.
As recently as the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials in February, Kara Goucher told the website LetsRun.com: "Justice is coming."
Goucher, who trained as part of the Oregon Project for seven years, is one of the accusers.
If the investigation has been dropped or suspended, what would be "just" would be for the USADA to announce its findings. And if there isn't enough evidence to go forward, to say so.