Alberto Salazar was once a successful coach with the Nike Oregon Project (NOP), home to four-time British Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah from 2011 to 2017. This week, 61-year-old Salazar was banned from athletics for four years due to multiple anti-doping violations.

Salazar was sanctioned by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) along with endocrinologist Jeffrey Brown on the grounds of attempted tampering with athletes’ doping control processes and attempted trafficking of testosterone.

“The athletes in these cases found the courage to speak out and ultimately exposed the truth. While acting in connection with the Nike Oregon Project, Mr. Salazar and Dr. Brown demonstrated that winning was more important than the health and well-being of the athletes they were sworn to protect,” said USADA chief executive, Travis Tygart.

When asked about his former coach, Farah stated:

“I’m relieved that USADA has, after four years, completed their investigation into Alberto Salazar. I left the Nike Oregon Project in 2017 but as I’ve always said, I have no tolerance for anyone who breaks the rules or crosses a line. A ruling has been made and I’m glad there has finally been a conclusion.”

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Due to this USADA’s ruling, the USA Track and Field Federation has since stripped Salazar of his accreditation for the World Athletics Championships, which are currently underway in Qatar.

Even after the ruling, Salazar insists he is innocent, citing strict adherence to WADA code.

“The Oregon Project has never and will never permit doping,” Salazar’s said in a recent statement. “I will appeal and look forward to this unfair and protracted process reaching the conclusion I know to be true.”

Although Salazar’s appeal is still pending, Farah has still drawn a line between himself and his former coach. The Olympic champion said he is convinced that Salazar crossed a line.

Salazar will await the Performance and Oversight Committee of the USADA’s review of his appeal. For the time being, he will not be allowed in any official team hotel, training zone or any area of Khalifa Stadium that requires accreditation.

Russian runner Mariya Savinova, a London 2012 gold medallist, has been stripped of her 800m title and banned until 2019.

Russian Olympian Mariya Savinova Banned, Stripped Of Title for Doping

Savinova, 31, has had all her results from July 2010 to August 2013 annulled after being found guilty of doping.

The Russian defeated South African Caster Semenya into second at the London Olympics and the 2011 Worlds in Daegu, South Korea.

Savinova also defeated Britain’s Jenny Meadows into bronze at the 2010 Europeans. Both Semenya and Meadows could now have their medals upgraded.

Among the other medals Savinova will lose are her her 800m gold from the 2011 World Championships and the European Championships in 2010.

She will also forfeit her 2013 World Championship silver.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s statement on Friday read:

“On the basis of clear evidence, including the evidence derived from her biological passport (ABP), Mariya Savinova is found to have been engaged in using doping from 26 July 2010 (the eve of the European Championship in Barcelona) through to 19 August 2013 (the day after the World Championship in Moscow).

“As a consequence, a four-year period of ineligibility, beginning on 24 August 2015, has been imposed and all results achieved between 26 July 2010 and 19 August 2013, are disqualified and any prizes, medals, prize and appearance money forfeited.”

Savinova was one of five Russian athletes named in a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report about doping.

She has not competed since 2013 after being suspended during an investigation that began following the release of undercover footage filmed by whistleblower Yuliya Stepanova.

Should Semenya indeed receive a gold medal for the London 2012 final as a result, it would be her second one after she claimed the 800m title in Rio last summer.

Savinova joins one other Russian finalist who has been retrospectively banned: Yelena Arzhakova. A third, bronze medallist Ekaterina Poistogova, is also being investigated for doping.

Most of the Russian track and field team were banned from competing at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 11: Mariya Savinova of Russia celebrates afte winning gold in the Women’s 800m Final on Day 15 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Olympic Stadium on August 11, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)