Nike have the power in the US.

They are just like the mafia | The Times

12/21/15, 11:28 AM

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Nike have the power in the US. They are just like the mafia

Nikes high-profile employees, such as Gatlin, have found themselves fending off all manner of allegations in recent years Getty Images

Rick Broadbent
Published at 12:01AM, December 21 2015

On a summers night at a running track in Eugene in the Pacific Northwest, a police officer called John Loos answered a physical
harassment call. His subsequent report would detail how Nikes global director of athletics allegedly threatened to kill a coach at
the US National Championships.
According to Looss report filed to the University of Oregon police, Danny Mackey told him that John Cap Capriotti called
Mackey a pussy, liar, scumbag, as well as saying lets go outside mother f***er. When the row escalated, Capriotti allegedly
said: Im gonna f***in kill you. Mackey claimed it concluded with the Nike man saying this isnt over and you are f***in
done. The non-Nike coach said that he wanted to file a police report, but did not press charges. Later he said that he was
concerned for his safety when travelling alone to a Nike-sponsored Diamond League meeting in Monaco in July.
It has been an incredible year for Nike. This month, the company signed an estimated $500 million (about 335 million) deal
with LeBron James, the basketball star, and sales have risen from $19 billion to $30.6 billion in the past six years. Recessionhttp://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/article4645906.ece

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proof and fireproof, the company has been unaffected by scandals involving Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods, its former
stalwarts.
However, the bad PR is building. Nike is awaiting the US Anti-Doping Agency (Usada) report into Alberto Salazar, lead coach at
its state-of-the-art centre for endurance runners, the Nike Oregon Project, after allegations of doping malpractice made by
Panorama, the BBC programme. Salazar strongly denies the allegations against him.
This month, Nike was dragged into the Fifa scandal, via an indictment by the US attorney-general that accused Ricardo Teixeira,
former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, of receiving kickbacks.
Investigators said that Company A (Nike) paid $40 million to an affiliate of a company that helped to broker a deal to cosponsor the Brazil team, on top of the $160 million it agreed to pay over ten years.
The brokers owner is accused of paying millions to Teixeira as a bribe and kickback. The news forced Nike to break its
favoured approach of silence by saying: There is no allegation in the charging documents that any Nike employee was aware of
or knowingly participated in any bribery or kickback scheme.
Nike has weathered storms before. In 2012, Nike vehemently denied a claim made under oath that it had paid $500,000 to
Hein Verbruggen, the former UCI president, to cover up a positive drug test by Armstrong. Nike dropped Armstrong that year.
This September, a US district judge ordered Nike to release communications with Armstrong as part of the governments $100
million fraud case against the former cyclist.
So will Nike be damaged by Capriotti, Usada, Fifa or Armstrong? Some critics certainly argue that its financial success has
spawned a monster and that incidents such as the alleged altercation at Hayward Field add to fears that Nike has become too
powerful.
Asked whether Capriotti was warned or reprimanded after the row, a Nike spokesperson said: We dont discuss personnel
matters. It was not possible to speak to Capriotti and ask whether these were harmless words spoken in the heat of the
moment or evidence of a cultural problem.
Steve Magness, the whistleblower who sparked the Usada investigation into Salazar, said: Nike have all the power in the US.
They are like the mafia and Capriotti is the mafia boss. He says that he saw Mackey soon after the alleged altercation. He was
part pi**ed and part shaken up, Magness said. Mackey is coach of a Seattle-based athletics club sponsored by Brooks, a shoe
and sportswear minnow compared with Nike.
This month, a Commons select committee asked Lord Coe, the president of the IAAF, if Nike had an interest in Eugene staging
the 2021 World Athletics Championships. I dont know, Coe replied. Youd have to ask them.
Nike has a $500 million, 23-year deal with USA Track and Field, but we asked them anyway. A spokesman said: Eugene is the
birthplace of Nike, but our business is global by nature and the opportunity to grow our business does not reside in Eugene.
Coe was trying to refute allegations of a conflict of interest between his presidency and his 100,000-a-year Nike ambassadorial
role. He also denied that he had lobbied on behalf of the Eugene bid. Does he think we are all stupid? Magness said. Of course
Nike wanted the world championships [at Eugene]. Its ludicrous to suggest otherwise. Phil Knight built Nike in Eugene and you
only have to look around to see their influence.
There is an area known as Caps Corner at Hayward Field, where those 2021 world championships will be held after the IAAF
awarded the event to Eugene in April this year without evaluating rival bids.
Capriotti, a marketing man who decides where the Nike dollar is spent in athletics, has a tough reputation, as has another Nike
marketing employee called Llewellyn Starks, who stood by Capriotti in that medical tent in June, according to Mackey.
In 2006, Starks was alleged in court papers to have, according to Mackey, put a masseur called Chris Whetstine in hospital with
head injuries and a broken nose. Whetstine filed a $3.9 million lawsuit against Starks and Nike, who disputed his account. He
settled out of court in 2009 on undisclosed terms.
That case was made more intriguing as Whetstine was accused of sabotaging Justin Gatlin, Nikes Olympic 100 metres
champion, by rubbing testosterone on his legs. The allegations, made by Gatlins coach, were denied by Whetstine. Gatlin failed
a second drug test and faced expulsion from the sport, but cut a deal with anti-doping chiefs and got an eight-year ban that was
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later reduced to four. He has been the fastest man in the world for the past two years. He was given a new Nike contract in
March.
Nike has remained silent on the Gatlin deal, but this week a spokesman told The Times: Justin has served the ban that was
imposed on him earlier in his career and has been competing without issue for the last five years. We dont condone his former
actions, but support the positive changes he made on the track.
Julie Strasser, a former Nike executive, put it another way, saying that the company would not drop any individual bad boy
unless it is a catastrophe a murder hes committed.
Others are also questioning whether Nike cares about being tainted by bad behaviour. Lauren Fleshman, a two-times US
champion at 5,000 metres, said: They were very late to cut ties with Lance Armstrong to the point where it was awkward and
investing heavily in Justin Gatlin during this current climate may seem odd, but is a predictable decision by them.
The sad thing is they are missing an opportunity. They have so much power that they could shift how we view and value sport
simply by who they invest in and what stories they tell. Instead, they follow the skunk and feed it.
Fleshman is a rare dissenter. She said that athletes are too scared to voice opposition to Nike. They are creating a monopoly
where its hard for other companies to survive, she said. People darent speak out because they dont want to lose their Nike
deal. Fleshman said that pressure is even put on athletes who tweet anything deemed negative about the company.
One such situation arose in August, when Nick Symmonds was left out of the United States team for the world championships in
Beijing despite winning the 800 metres in the US trials. He declined to sign USA Track and Fields (USATF) statement of
conditions, relating to where he had to wear official Nike team gear. He said that he understands Nikes attempts to create a
monopoly, but bristles at USATFs refusal to stand up to them.
Symmonds said that USATF never explained what an official team function was, but said that athletes received a letter telling
them to pack ONLY Team USA, Nike or non- branded apparel.
Wearing team kit is one thing, but having to wear Nike when you are going out for a coffee is another. Symmonds was supported
by other athletes, who claim that non-Nike athletes are penalised. Lolo Jones, an Asics hurdler, said that she was given two bras
by Nike for the month that she was away at the 2012 Olympics. Symmonds said that USATF bullied and threatened him every
day about wearing non-Nike clothes while at the world indoor championships in Poland last year. USATF denies his claim.
He is not sure whether Coe, who only ended his deal with Nike after media pressure, is the man to clean up athletics. He strikes
me as a brilliant man and has been passionate about the sport for his entire life, but I dont trust anybody who is in bed with
Nike, Symmonds said. Why? Because I know they dont always play fair, he claimed.
Fleshman said that non-Nike athletes were all but airbrushed out of this years high-profile USATF television advertisement.
Nike athletes had logos featured prominently, while the camera zoomed out on non-Nike runners. If USATF is entering into
sponsorship contracts that demand they shrink us, crop us, silence us, prevent us from thriving, and stifle competition in the
marketplace. That isnt right, she said.
There are other allegations about Nikes reach, with some suggesting that one of its coaches tried to influence the outcome of
races. Nike denied this, but last year there was a furore when Salazar, who also coaches Mo Farah, appeared to influence the
disqualification of Gabriele Grunewald after she clashed with one of his runners. Grunewald was crowned 3,000 metres
champion and won a place in the US team. Salazar protested on behalf of Jordan Hasay. Two reviews found no penalty, but
Grunewald, sponsored by Brooks, was later disqualified anyway. Dennis Barker, her coach, told the LetsRun website: I think it
was coercion from Nike. Grunewalds disqualification would have enabled another Nike athlete to go to the world indoor
championships, but she was reinstated two days later. Salazar said that he was merely standing up for his athlete.
Increasingly, Nike is where the power is in sport. The deal with Brazil allowed it to dictate where friendlies were played. The deal
with USATF led to Symmonds missing the world championships after he declined USATFs terms. The Gatlin deal has led to
Fleshman setting up a petition calling on USATF to use leaders in clean sport as figureheads. More than 1,000 people have
signed and wonder why Gatlin was paraded as the face of the sport at the American Music Awards last month.
Athletics is in the mire, with Russia banned from all competition and the World Anti-Doping Agency-appointed independent
commission due to publish its report into alleged IAAF corruption after Christmas. All officials under investigation deny any
wrongdoing.

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Symmonds said that missing out on Beijing was tempered by the IAAFs status. I do not feel too bad about missing out on the
IAAF sh** show, he said. They are corrupt. We have evidence and we have known about it for years.
As Olympic year approaches, things look like getting worse. Meanwhile, Nike, the company that has grown rich from it, remains
untouchable.
17 athletes and Nike Oregon Project staff members who made allegations against Alberto Salazar
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