"It all comes down to one thing: Where were the parents?
In this situation, it sounds like they spoke up and saved her from a terrible situation. AS gets paid to make fast runners and win gold medals. He is not a dad. He is not a pharmacist. He is not a doctor.
AS should have stuck to coaching.
But at a certain point weight is going to come into the picture. If you're not lean, you're going to lose. At a certain point a pro coach needs to be able to discuss weight with his athletes. I am not sure when that is.
18 is young, but it is an adult. Boys can get shot in the head for the USA at 18.
This is just all so disappointing."
Let's get real!
1) Any coach has a duty of care for his athletes. Maybe only for an hour a day training session but parents would expect a coach to know what he/she is doing and that they would not do anything to harm their child.
2) Salazar may not have been a woman but he surely knew that what Cain was going through with regard to her periods etc. was not in the best interests of her long term health. Cain states that she "broke five bones". A bit of a vague statement but if only some of these were running related fractures shouldn't a well informed coach have asked "why?" and thought about diet, periods etc.?
3) Publically berating any athlete (male or female) about their weight is surely not acceptable. If such a delicate subject is to be discussed, and some would say that no subject is off limits between coach and athlete, it should be done in private in a calm, measured manner.
4) There is a two way street here; Cain wanted to be the best athlete in the world, Salazar wanted another jewel in his many studded coaching crown (and Nike wanted to make a huge amount of money out of Cain). But it goes back to the duty of care. Universities do have some responsibility towards their students; they don't just say, well, they chose to be here, nobody forced them to come.
5) Did Nike and Salazar "cross the line"? It all depends, I suppose, where you draw the line. But I suspect that most people not on Nike's payroll would agree that if only half of what Cain says is true they didn't just cross the line but took a running jump and cleared it by a country mile!