Athletics-Salazar permanently banned from track and field due to misconduct

By Amy Tennery

TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. Center for SafeSport has barred coach Alberto Salazar permanently from track and field citing sexual and emotional misconduct, according to its centralized disciplinary database on Monday.

Under SafeSport rules, Salazar has 10 business days to request arbitration, which would be conducted by an independent party. SafeSport declined to comment on Tuesday.

Salazar did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an independent nonprofit organisation that provides sports with guidelines on how to provide safe environments for athletes and training for coaches and administrators.

American Salazar, who coached some of the world's top distance runners including British Olympic and world champion Mo Farah, was previously suspended by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for "orchestrating and facilitating" doping as head coach of the Nike Oregon Project.

He has appealed the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Nike did not respond to a similar request when contacted by Reuters.

Salazar won three consecutive New York City marathons from 1980 before coaching a slew of Olympians, including Farah, who won the 5,000 and 10,000m golds at the London and Rio Olympics before splitting with the American in 2017.

Farah has never failed a drugs test and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

In a statement to Reuters, USA Track & Field (USATF) said it "takes all forms of misconduct extremely seriously".

"(USATF) took immediate action when reports were initially filed in this case," the national governing body said. "No form of abuse will ever be tolerated within our sport, and we will continue to prioritize athletes' emotional and physical safety above all else."

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Tokyo; Editing by Peter Rutherford)