Galen Rupp and Jordan Hasay Comment on Alberto Salazar and the End of the Nike Oregon Project

By Adam Kopet

Galen Rupp and Jordan Hasay had been set to race in the Nike Oregon Project uniform Sunday in the Chicago Marathon.

That will not happen now as Nike decided Thursday to shutter the Oregon Project. Both athletes made media appearances Friday at the Chicago Marathon pre-race press conference and a group interview session later where they discussed the end of the Oregon Project and the ban of their coach, Alberto Salazar.

As a result of Salazar's four-year ban handed down Sept. 30, by the rules, both athletes have not been allowed contact with their coach.

When asked when Rupp last had contact with Salazar, who has coached him since he was 15 years old, he said "I haven't had any professional contact, sport related contact, with him since the announcement." He was unwilling to comment further about Salazar and his ban.

"I'm focused on the race on Sunday," Rupp went on to say. "I'm going to deal with the coaching thing after that."

Hasay, while training in California, has been on her own as far as coaching goes. She had her family's support, but used her training logs from her past three marathons as a guide to get her to the start line Sunday.

"I didn't want a bunch of different voices in my head," Hasay said when asked about taking advisement from other people. With less than two weeks to go at the time of Salazar's ban being announced, the majority of her training had been completed.

Hasay reiterated from a previous interview she gave this past week that she has not seen or been involved with anything doping related.

"I trust what I know and what I've seen," she said. "And I've never been offered anything or seen anything. If that were to have happened, I would have left long ago."

As far as the news of the Nike Oregon Project being shut down, Hasay learned the news along with the rest of the world Thursday night.

"We just heard about that yesterday," she said. "I wasn't sure what way it was going to go."

With all the distractions surrounding the end of the Oregon Project, both athletes emphasized their focus on Sunday's race.

During the press conference, Rupp talked about his fitness and how it is a partial mystery to him given the long recovery process from surgery on his heel and ankle following last year's Chicago Marathon.

Hasay was more optimistic about Sunday's race, feeling the American record could still come into play if the conditions and race situation work in her favor.