Lets measure success wrote:
Remember the quote. We are only talking about the marathon.
I remember the quote. You may be only talking about marathons, but I'm not -- and neither was Salazar's quote:
"'Then the commentators started gushing about an American taking sixth place,' Salazar recalled with incredulity. 'We started talking How can we be so bad? How can American distance runners be so bad that we're excited about sixth place? ... I told Tom that I could coach Americans to do better.'"
In other words, he was aiming to coach American distance runners to do better than sixth place -- which he has already done on multiple occasions.
The only mention of the word "marathon" comes in the previous sentence when he mentions that he was "listening to the conclusion of the Boston Marathon." But that doesn't mean that his entire project was formed with the goal improving performances in the Boston Marathon, or in marathons in general. That was just the spark for the conversation.
There are plenty of debates to be had about Salazar's approach, including his use of expensive technology and questionable medical diagnoses. But trying to argue that he hasn't been successful just makes you look foolish.