Nike to Investigate Runner’s Claims That She Was Abused
The company said it will launch and immediate investigation to look into this.
(Bloomberg) -- Nike Inc. plans to investigate claims by track-and-field athlete Mary Cain, who said she was starved and ultimately had suicidal thoughts after joining the company’s now-disbanded Oregon Project running program.
“We take the allegations extremely seriously and will launch an immediate investigation to hear from former Oregon Project athletes,” the company said in an emailed statement. “At Nike we seek to always put the athlete at the center of everything we do, and these allegations are completely inconsistent with our values.”
Cain said in a New York Times editorial that she was under constant pressure to lose weight while she was an Oregon Project athlete. At 17, she was a record-breaking runner, but the drive to get “thinner, and thinner, and thinner” led her to lose her period, break five bones and consider ending her life, she said.
The company ended the Oregon Project last month after its top coach, Alberto Salazar, was banned from the sport for four years for violating anti-doping rules. Nike said Thursday that it hadn’t heard the complaints from Cain before.
“These are deeply troubling allegations which have not been raised by Mary or her parents before,” Nike said. “Mary was seeking to rejoin the Oregon Project and Alberto’s team as recently as April of this year, and had not raised these concerns as part of that process.”
Salazar said in a statement Friday morning that he never encouraged women athletes to maintain an unhealthy weight. “Not only did I never do such a thing,” he wrote, “I would not tolerate anyone else on my team doing any such a thing.”
Cain’s representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nike has made female empowerment a central part of its marketing, and Chief Executive Officer Mark Parker has been outspoken about the company’s opportunity to sell more shoes and apparel to women.
‘Physically Abused’
Cain’s allegations were included in a video and editorial published on the Times site. Nike needs to change, and there needs to be more women in coaching and leadership roles, she said.
“I was emotionally and physically abused by a system designed by Alberto and endorsed by Nike,” she said in the video. The coach wanted her to take birth-control pills and diuretics to lose weight, breaking track-and-field rules, she said.
Others who have worked with or run on Salazar’s team have tweeted to corroborate parts of what Cain describes in her video.
The allegations are just the latest black eye for Nike. Earlier this year, some runners publicly criticized the company for its treatment of pregnant athletes. Nike, based in Beaverton, Oregon, later changed its policies.
Salazar has denied wrongdoing connected with the doping violations for which he was banned, and the company has supported him.
Meanwhile, Nike is going through a transition at the top. Parker, 64, said last month that he will resign in January, handing the reins to ex-EBay Inc. CEO John Donahoe.
The decision to pick a leader outside Nike’s executive ranks followed a shake-up over misconduct last year. Trevor Edwards, once seen as a CEO candidate, abruptly stepped down amid a review of sexist behavior at the company. Other executives were ousted as the world’s largest athletic brand tried to burnish its image.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eben Novy-Williams in New York at enovywilliam@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua
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