Alberto Salazar: Mo Farah's coach 'will show accusations are false'

Alberto Salazar (centre) is coach to Galen Rupp (left) and Mo Farah (right)

Mo Farah's coach Alberto Salazar says he will show his accusers are "knowingly making false statements" as he continues to deny doping claims.

American Salazar, who coaches Farah in the United States, denies allegations made in a BBC investigation that he has practised doping techniques.

Britain's Farah, 32, has been advised to distance himself from Salazar and his US-based Nike Oregon Project (NOP).

There is no suggestion that Farah himself has been involved in doping.

A BBC Panorama investigation alleged Salazar, who became Farah's coach in 2011, violated anti-doping rules and doped US runner Galen Rupp in 2002 when the athlete was 16 years old.

"I will document and present the facts as quickly as I can so that Galen and Mo can focus on doing what they love and have worked so hard to achieve," Salazar told The Guardian in a statement.

"I have said all along that I believe in a clean sport, hard work and I deny all allegations of doping."

Rupp, who was second to Farah in the 10,000m at the 2012 Olympics and holds the US 10,000m record, also denies allegations of wrongdoing.

British Olympic Association chairman Lord Coe, who is running for the role of president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, has defended the reputation of Salazar and believes he will mount a "robust" defence.

UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner confirmed the governing body would scour Farah's records to ensure their star distance runner is clean but said the process will take "weeks rather than months" to complete.

The US Anti-Doping Agency has not confirmed whether it is investigating the claims against Salazar, but the World Anti-Doping Agency president, Sir Craig Reedie, has said the situation should be investigated.

Salazar, Rupp and Farah's agent, Ricky Simms, were made aware of the BBC's allegations a month ago.

Meanwhile, a former coach with the NOP has told Runners World he is "not surprised" by the allegations of misuse of prescription drugs.

John Cook, who was recruited by Salazar in 2003 but left the NOP in 2005, said it was easy to get a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for something like an inhaler.

"If I take you and run your ass up and down the stairs five or six or seven times, then take you into the doctor, you're going to be asthmatic and fail the test and you're going to be allowed to take an inhaler," he said.

"Don't get me wrong, some of these drugs make life better for certain groups. But if you're a healthy person, why the hell would you need an inhaler? I was somewhat concerned about that."

He also derided the effectiveness of current drug-testing programmes.

"I think it's pretty obvious that drug-testing can be circumvented in pretty much every corner," said the 73-year-old American.

Cook also said his view of athletics had been tainted by what he knows and has seen.

"I follow the sport without particularly much fervour or excitement because I know too much," he said.

"When I was naïve, I liked it a lot more. I've been turned off pretty much."