Mo’ better supplements: Farah coach backs vitamins and amino acids

20-Aug-2013 - Last updated on 23-Aug-2013 at 10:00 GMT

Mo Farah in 'Mobot' mode: His coach says some supplements are part of his training and nutrition regime

Related tags Vitamin Amino acid Dietary supplement

Mo Farah, the British track athlete who just bagged world titles in the 5000m and 10,000m in Moscow, takes amino acid and vitamin and mineral supplements his coach has said in defending Farah’s rising performances against doping accusations.

Speaking to the UK press, Alberto Salazar said better training was behind Farah’s improvement which saw him win gold for the same two events at the London Olympiad last summer and set a European record in the 1500m at a track meet in Monaco last month.

“No way in the world,” Salazar, a former New York marathon winner and US 5000m and 10,000m record holder, said to doping insinuations against Farah.

Salazar said Farah was so wary of doping issues he largely avoided food supplements although he took some products tested and approved by HFL Sport Science’s Informed Sport programme, which in turn has UK Athletics support.

Taking stuff, doing stuff...

“We don’t take that much stuff and everything that Mo takes is from UK Athletics,” said Cuban born Salazar, who trains Farah and other athletes as part of Nike’s Oregon project.

“None of our athletes are on any sports-specific supplement other than beta alanine, which is an amino acid. Other than that, it’s iron, vitamin D and that’s it. You don’t really need anything else.”

Salazar said prior to joining the Nike programme Farah’s training was too random to deliver elite results despite his apparent natural ability.

“He hardly did any stuff and he was still fast, so is it surprising that when we do this stuff, he is where he is? I’ve seen him do workouts when he’ll be pushing himself so hard that he literally has to crawl off the track.”