NY Times reports Alberto Salazar was banned by SafeSport for allegedly sexually assaulting an athlete twice while giving massage

You are making a lot of assumptions here that I don't think are right. Part of the problem with the current SafeSport is that if a coach gets nailed he doesn't wind up on a do-not-hire list so he is free to move to a new area and set up his/her molesting shop there. There should be a national do-not-hire list that ALL schools/groups/clubs/teams/etc should be required to reference before hiring someone. It is worse internationally and someone nailed by SafeSport most definitely can go to another country and nobody from that other country would have any idea of the monster that just showed up. Your example of Canada is particularly problematic because Canada recently has bent over backwards protecting the name of a high profile triathlon coach and allowing him to continue coach even though Canada knew about many of his bad acts.

are you stupid or ruhtarded wrote:

Why on earth do you low iq loser males continue to defend him? Nothing he has done says he has done otherwise. You emotional man babies are hilarious to me. Have fun failing at life forever and blaming everyone else

Because they likely have similar skeletons in their closet. If Nikes golden boy with all that money and legal resources can go down then the Letsrun basement dwellers don’t have a chance.

svoinwe wrote:

He was physically, psychologically, and sexually abusive

I don't believe it.

Let me know when he's found guilty by a transparent process where we can view all the evidence.

IDontBelieveIt wrote:

svoinwe wrote:

He was physically, psychologically, and sexually abusive

I don't believe it.

Let me know when he's found guilty by a transparent process where we can view all the evidence.

It doesn’t matter what any of us believe. You remind me of the guy who doesn’t believe Charlie Rose ever was inappropriate with women because he enjoys watching his TV show.

It sucks to see your heroes fall from grace. A lot of Salazar fans are older men that idolized him in the 80s or those that credit him for restoring American distance running to respectability. The denial, anger, and dismay are pretty normal reactions. Some will cling to their hero worship until the bitter end.

At what level of certainty would you agree that Salazar should be appropriately banned from coaching? 5%, 51%, 75%, 95%, 100%? Who should make the determination if not safe sport? I know you want to be the one who gets to hear the evidence and decide, but your not qualified and that’s not your job. You seem to be arguing for > 95% certainty as determined by a criminal court of law? As a father of daughters I think you are demanding a standard that’s way too high. Coaching is one of several professions that should be viewed as a privilege and not a right. The standard to remove access to such a privilege can be far lower than to remove a right.

IDontBelieveIt wrote:

svoinwe wrote:

He was physically, psychologically, and sexually abusive

I don't believe it.

Let me know when he's found guilty by a transparent process where we can view all the evidence.

* I am sure, as I type, Alberto Salazar wishes there was no further disclosure. Brothers Johnson weeks ago allowed speculation on this site that Alberto S. was banished for fat shaming a female.

* Some evidence has come to light. Only A. Salazar has the power to take this matter to civil court. A. Salazar certainly can walk into an attorney's office in NYC, take NYT to court for Defamation. There would be Discovery.

* A. Salazar can sue everyone involved. If A. Salazar is 100% innocent, A. Salazar will be able to prove he was not giving massages to anyone on the date stated. Do you believe A. Salazar will say he never gave a female a massage? That would be the only way A. Salazar could be 100% innocent.

Wise Old Man wrote:

At what level of certainty would you agree that Salazar should be appropriately banned from coaching? 5%, 51%, 75%, 95%, 100%? Who should make the determination if not safe sport? I know you want to be the one who gets to hear the evidence and decide, but your not qualified and that’s not your job. You seem to be arguing for > 95% certainty as determined by a criminal court of law? As a father of daughters I think you are demanding a standard that’s way too high. Coaching is one of several professions that should be viewed as a privilege and not a right. The standard to remove access to such a privilege can be far lower than to remove a right.

There are two issues with SafeSport banning someone for life under these circumstances. One is the "more likely than not" 51% standard that you address here. The other is the complete lack of transparency that is a bigger issue to me.

zxcvxzcvzxcv wrote:

Hope you get accused. It's a valid point. These predators can't control themselves. Al Sal has been coaching fir decades and he does something like this once, years ago? Try using reason instead of name calling.

I think people are misunderstanding how this could have gone down with just one athlete. Let's say he's had a consensual relationship with an athlete at one point. They break if off, but still have feelings for each other. He might try to rekindle it via massage. Just because someone once gave consent doesn't mean they always gave it.

Or maybe they didn't have an affair but he thought he had a special connection with a single athlete that was going to result in a consensual relationship.

Seven years ago there was an article about Salazar in The Irish Times, that was written in the wake of the BBC Panorama documentary outlining shady doings at the NOP. I remembered this quote from former NOP massage therapist Albert Kupczak; at the time I thought it extremely odd -what coach gives "massages" to athletes when trained specialists are available to do that?- but now it seems eerie and disturbing:

Kupczak said the bond between Salazar and Rupp was so close Salazar would sometimes take over the massage duties from him when they were at training camps. “Sometimes we’d be somewhere and Galen likes his massages in the evening, so I would start to work on him and Alberto would say: ‘Al, you take the night off, I’ll give Galen a massage.’

“At first I was a little taken aback. I was thinking am I doing a good job? But then I realised they have a peculiar arrangement, it’s beyond son and father, like some people say, so I’d just laugh it off and think I’ve got the night off, good.”

Lol at all the humungously long pontificating posts.

Just point the finger and just say what ya gotta say, briefly FFS.

ArthurNotInMyYard wrote:

Seven years ago there was an article about Salazar in The Irish Times,

The Guardian, on the massage weirdness and more:

Accidents Happen. wrote:

Lol at all the humungously long pontificating posts.

Just point the finger and just say what ya gotta say, briefly FFS.

You want brevity? Alberto made sexually inappropriate remarks toward the woman he apparently physically assaulted.

The Irish Times one which also quotes The Guardian:

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/alberto-salazar-warned-athletes-about-contamination-fears-1.2260321

"He was obsessed with the size of my breasts..."

Al comes across as a well balanced all round top and bottom kind of guy.

You simply made that part up. I believe he’s guilty, I found the other poster’s reasoning stupid and offensive, but nowhere did I even say I think he’s guilty, you just assumed it.

Maybe the anonymous accuser was dropped by Nike. Maybe she just decided she didn't like Salazar.

We have no idea whether she had an ulterior motive for making her accusations, which means that SafeSport does indeed deny the accused due process.

If you set out to design a process to facilitate vendetta, you couldn't do better than what SafeSport has come up with.