Mary Cain sues Al Sal and Nike for $20 million over alleged abuse

“Oh boo hoo. He called me fat and caused all my injuries. Now give me $20M “

I have zero respect for anyone suing and not taking any responsibility. BTW being “fastest high schooler in America” is not a guarantee in college or beyond. Should’ve gone home if you didn’t like it

I agree. 220 degrees when being heated. It is colder than that as soon as it is in the cup so people should assume that it is boiling and they won't be surprised. I always assume coffee is served at that temp.

I’ve seen other US female distance runners at that height listed around 113 pounds on the IAAF or USATF site or whatever and then at one point end up reading quotes from them saying ‘I have no idea where that number came from, it’s not accurate and it’s not a good idea to make that number public.’

114 is light. I’m 5’7 and my racing weight was around 118 until my last 2 years of college/peak fitness when I dipped down to 110-113 and was ~118 most of the year. At this weight, I graduated college wearing girl’s size 14 jeans that were too short on me and had to safety pin the waistband of my skirt suit so it wouldn’t fall down while I was on a job interview and I didn’t start getting a regular period again for over a year after my last college race. And my caloric intake wasn’t restricted.

js8hw9hidtgwhdh wrote:

Instead of being a whiney brat filing lawsuits why doesn't she go out and run a world record?

+10000

He told me to be a world-class runner I have to lose weight, I'm going to sue him!!!

She was chubby at 120. He could see it and so could everyone else. She isn't muscular so she probably should weigh less than the average elite runner. But 114 sounds pretty average. What if she wanted to run 25MPW and he had to constantly yell at her in order to get her to run? Is that abuse? What if she stayed up all night and he had to constantly yell at her to get sleep? Is that abuse? The easiest way to get faster is to shed fat.

Mikeh33 wrote:

Good question. Sounds like your coach used a wise approach. Al Sal should have done the same. But I imagine you are a man. Even a science-driven approach, as your coach followed, would be no defense against the baying hounds of feminism if practiced on a lady athlete.

Which makes me wonder why attempting to run fast creates such a toxic environment for its participants.

My daughter competes in equestrian Eventing. It’s a scary sport with high risks. The coaches are not sugar coating anything.

Up until last year, she competed in gymnastics which also has a high risk factor. Those coaches are hard core.

She just started running and said the coaches are funny.

Why are runners who compete in a hard but low risk sport so…sensitive? Is it because they are too entitled?

*Boomer Alert*: Back in my day, runners all were dirt poor, overtrained, one pair of shoes for everything, crazy coaching (by today’s standards), and wouldn’t think of suing anyone.

Now it seems like a rich kid sport with unrealistic expectations of coddling. Are these women really empowering themselves by trying to take down the man?

xczvzxcv wrote:

Colleges routinely fire their track and xc coaches for less, so I think you're wrong if you think that this case will have no legs.

Getting fired and getting sued for $20 million are not the same. I definitely believe Cain's complaint forms a compelling case for Salazar to be fired as a coach. For being civilly liable for abuse, not even close.

Yes. Man. I appreciated my head college XC coach's tact but I would have been okay otherwise. I was a slightly chubby baseball player and Am. football player in grade school and middle school. I was and am comfortable with my body, no matter. I do believe his (my coach) thoughtful approach would have gone over well with females. My coach explained how good of a team we had and how important I was to the success of the team (5th fastest). I was told we, the team could not be our best if I was not by best. That said, Mary Cain was a near elite 800m runner. Could she have lowered her percentage of body fat by weight lifting? Yes. I just looked up the lady who would have been her 800m competitor if Mary Cain were allowed to remain an 800m runner, Ajee Wilson. Wilson is listed at 5'8" 135 lbs. I also just looked up Raevyn Rogers, 5'9" 141 lbs. Mary Cain was NEVER over weight. Mary Cain needed an 800m coach and more time in the weight room.

She ran fast when she weighed 115. Then she got chubby and slow. Those women are strong. She is not.

Whether folks care to believe it or not, Nike did a thorough and comprehensive internal investigation of Cain’s allegations. They weren’t looking for the right answers or looking to do a cover up. The higher ups had had enough and they wanted the nonsense to stop and get rid of the bad seeds. What they ended up uncovering was that Cain was a pathological liar and disreputable. Nike had no choice but to squash the report as there was no public relations good in exposing Cain. Nike just would have looked like bullies.

All this makes me think Nike may not settle this time around. We could be looking at an Avenatti situation. Nike doesn’t take kindly to extortion. This is exactly what Cain appears to be doing. Nike can easily portray that they took immediate action. They shut down the program, they removed Salazar’s name from campus and they restructured the entire sports marketing and executive departments.

footy wrote:

She ran fast when she weighed 115. Then she got chubby and slow. Those women are strong. She is not.

I stated Mary Cain needed to lift weights. Whatever Cain was doing weight training, it was not enough. I guess to you my typing was not clear: If Mary Cain would have lifted, and weight trained properly, she would not have been chubby. Cain certainly would have gotten stronger if she lifted properly.

Chisel nuts wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

Ok. Thanks for the education. Even more solidifies my stance that she has no leg to stand on here. I think it's possible Nike might give her some money to make her go away, but she's not deserving of any of it.

All you misogynist Mary Cain haters are on the WRONG side of history here.

I am definitely not a misogynist. It is possible to disagree with a woman without being a misogynist. Until some more damning information comes out, I'm not on the wrong side of anything. You don't sue a coach because he told you (even if he did so repeatedly) to lose some weight. Do I think it's likely he wasn't the nicest about it? From all accounts, yes...but I've had employers treat me more poorly than what she has said he did. Not worth suing over and certainly not for $20 million.

Thank you for chiming in. It’s clear from this thread that men clearly have no real understanding of how much women athletes actually weigh. I’m 5’10 and in college my middle distance/steeple racing weight was around 132. Maybe 130 when I was 18 and still a baby. Usually around 135 in the off season. I was a size 2 and if I had lost anymore weight I would have lost my period. My teammates who were lighter/playing the calorie game couldn’t stay healthy for all 4 years. And seriously body composition is going to fluctuate from athlete to athlete.

footy wrote:

I agree. 220 degrees when being heated. It is colder than that as soon as it is in the cup so people should assume that it is boiling and they won't be surprised. I always assume coffee is served at that temp.

I have no idea what the temperature of coffee or tea is. My only assumption is that it is hot and if I spill it in my lap it could cause significant pain or burn. So I do my best not to spill.

I can see it as akin to medical malpractice.

Salazar brought this upon himself when he told Mary Cain and her parents that she was the most gifted runner he's ever seen. This made them think he saw something special in her, that he really saw her. But instead of nurturing her talent and seeing her for the beautiful labradoodle she is, he tried to turn her into some kind of whippet or French poodle and she instead of getting faster, ended up gettin RED-s with the multiple injuries and bone density problems that beset her to this day.

If Nike had had a REAL nutritionist or an athlete advocate, someone might have stepped in and said, No, she needs to get her period. This is no good. But they had a system where it was all Alberto, all the time. And that could be seen as negligence.

Even in recent podcasts, Mary's voice shakes when she talks about this time. It doesn't shake when she speaks of other topics. I feel like if you saw a thoroughbred gnawing at its own leg, you might wonder if it had been abused at some point. But because she's a girl, we just say it was her fault and she and her parents should've known better. But I bet part of the lawsuit covers that Salazar presented himself to them as the EXPERT. But he was really wrong.

She was probably trying her best to get over this. She's always talking about coming back gently from this issue or that injury and being patient, and then she spent one too many time in an MRI. Or she watched the documentary on Nike where Malcolm Gladwell blamed her parents AND SHE LOST IT.

fada tyme wrote:

footy wrote:

I agree. 220 degrees when being heated. It is colder than that as soon as it is in the cup so people should assume that it is boiling and they won't be surprised. I always assume coffee is served at that temp.

I have no idea what the temperature of coffee or tea is. My only assumption is that it is hot and if I spill it in my lap it could cause significant pain or burn. So I do my best not to spill.

That old lady also tried her best to not spill (Documentary Hot Coffee). People think she was driving but really she (on the passenger side) and her son were parked in the parking lot. The coffee was so hot it went through layers of her skin. Third degree burns. Someone here said her sweatpants grafted on to her labia cause they melted. She had to go through multiple skin grafts and surgeries and was never the same again, healthwise. The jury of middle Americans, somewhere in Nebraska, I think awarded her everything she sued for cause it was so bad but the state had a cap on the amount you could get for a civil lawsuit so I think she only got $500,000 or something like that which only covered her medical bills and legal bills. So think of all the medical procedures she had to have.

Al is innocent and Mary was not toned.

I’m no Nike fan but please, this is a lot of crap.

Medical malpractice? She got greedy, saw dollar signs, and then fell short of expectations. Defiantly not lawsuit worthy.

Was Salazar a jerk? I’d bet a million bucks he was. Last I checked though you can’t punish someone for that. Plus, she was an adult who could have left anytime she wanted.

As far as her voice allegedly shaking, it is also common for bad liars to have shaky voices when they spin their tales.