If you read the book you can see that Salazar cultivated a strange and insular relationship where he encouraged Kara to only depend on him. He had her confide in and take the advice of their "sport psychologist," who parroted back what he said and broke patient confidentiality, rather than her pro runner husband or her family. He told Amy Yoder Begley that Kara didn't want to room with her and he told Kara Amy didn't want to room with her when they could've been friends as training partners. He kept everyone separate so they wouldn't talk about him and start doubting his ways. Kind of like a cult leader.
That letter reeks of desperation and codependency. Mary Cain wrote a similar letter. Not a coincidence. To this day, Kara expresses gratitude to Des, her podcast cohost now, because she was simply nice to Kara back then. A lot of people weren't and she was self-conscious even then that people thought of her relationship with Salazar as alienating and strange. She could never socialize with any of the other runners.
She also says she loved Rupp like a little brother at the beginning, but then he and Mo Farah were kind of sequestered to themselves with Salazar and she didn't have as much contact with him.
Mary Cain begged Salazar to let her rejoin the group after she left.
Why would she beg to rejoin the group of a coach who (allegedly) sexually assaulted her and (allegedly) called her fat?
It's suspicious that even after Salazar (allegedly) raped or sexually assaulted Kara and Mary they still loved Salazar and wanted to be coached by him. I really don't see an explanation for that other than the fact that Mary and Kara's allegations are totally false.
It's not suspicious at all if you're familiar with psychology. There are countless examples of cults and criminals who are adept at manipulating people. The term gaslighting describes the form of manipulation that leads people to doubt reality. Many people think it would never happen to them, but it's actually fairly common. Consider Stockholm Syndrome, false memory syndrome, police extracting false confessions from people, cults (as owlshape said). I've seen psychopaths tear through workplaces, and they're able to do so by turning people against one another while convincing their targets that they (the psycho) are the most honest and trustworthy people in the organization. It takes victims a long time to make sense of what happened to them. I know many people who, even after identifying the abuse, cannot abandon their loyalty to the abuser.
I undestand the skepticism, and I get that people don't like the public personas of people like Kara and Mary Cain, especially in an environment of weaponized victimhood. However, there's enough evidence kicking around to convince me that Salazar is a psychopath. The story about turning Kara and Amy Yoder Begley against one another is a recognizable tactic used by such people. Begley also talked fondly about Salazar's coaching even after speaking publicly about his abuse, and I'm fairly sure she did so before the major allegations saw light.
Powerful men and powerful woman have a dance that gets messy when one starts to have bad feelings. Both parties are adults and both parties get a dopamine rush in pushing the limits of a platonic relationship. Once a boyfriend or spouse gets wind of it, the dopamine surge decrease and panic sets in. That's when either consenting adults start to form the narrative of what "actually happened" despite the push and pull of two emotionally needy individuals. I believe that each starts to believe their own narrative as truth so that they may save their marriages or job. This happens in the work place, schools, hospitals, law firms etc.... It is inherently based on 2 people who in the outside project strength, sexuality and power but on the inside are looking for something to fill an empty void that is not met by their current partner. their partner could be perfect, but sometimes these individuals seek so much attention they become addicted to the rush of being just a little bit inappropriate.
Grown women and men know exactly what rape and molestation is. There really isn't too much of a gray zone that can be miscalculated for years. Therapy years later often reveals thoughts of victimhood that didn't really exist in the powerful cat and mouse dance.
No. That's not what happened here. It's very, very easy to convince oneself that an inappropriate touch was an accident when the person doing it is a trusted confidant. There's no way in hell Kara Goucher wanted a sexual relationship with Salazar. I don't believe it for a second.