Book Review: Win At All Costs: Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception by Matt Hart

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I have to admit that initially upon its release, I wasn't interested in reading Matt Hart's Win At All Costs; Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception. I'd heard the stories about Alberto Salazar, the famed coach, who has been banned from running and racing because of doping allegations. I'd heard the rumors about Galen Rupp, Salazar's protegé, thought to be heavily involved in doping. I read the stories about Kara Goucher's defection to Oiselle and never quite understood it. Last fall, young running phenom Mary Cain, came out against Salazar and his abusive comments about her weight. 

This is all very interesting, especially to those of us in running. Would a book that detailed the years of allegations against Salazar and Nike be a good read? Well, after reading Alex Hutchinson's recommendation--and for the life of me, I can't find it--I decided to pick it up. 

I'm so glad I did. It's a fascinating read and so well written, I couldn't put it down. In fact, some of the stories are so outrageous, you might forget this is a fact-based book! But for Nike and Salazar, it was all about winning--at any cost. 

You'll recognize a lot of famous names in Win At All Costs. The Gouchers feature prominently in the book as does Galen Rupp. Steve Magness takes a role as an assistant to Salazar and begins to question his methods, eventually becoming the whistleblower. Mo Farah and Dathan Ritzenheim were also athletes who trained under Salazar. As in other professional sports, there's a whole LOT of doping going on in running. 

Sigh.

Nothing Salazar did was based in science. Salazar was your typical Dr. Google researcher. He'd read about something he thought might make his athletes run faster and he'd find a way to get it. He knew enough to be dangerous; his grasp of science was questionable at best. There was a medical doctor he worked with who was Salazar's yes man and was complicit in his schemes, prescribing the medications Salazar wanted for his athletes. As a medical provider, I was truly fascinated and horrified by his manipulation of research studies and the questionable use of treatments to attempt to enhance the runners' performance. Salazar did things like putting runners on thyroid hormone, even when their bloodwork demonstrated normal thyroid function. All Salazar's runners used albuterol and steroid inhalers, medications given to people with asthma. Salazar was also a fan of testosterone, both injected and in cream form, a banned performance enhancer. One runner was cited as admitting that they didn't want Salazar touching them for fear he'd smear testosterone on their back. 

Ok, I found that a little amusing, in a macabre sort of way. It reminded me of some sort of mad scientist movie. A Dr. Frankenstein, if you will. Except that this really happened. How scary is that? Even more troubling, this pseudoscience has spread to amateur athletes. In my own practice, I've seen some high school athletes asking for inhalers, blood tests for ferritin, and inquiring about other dubious claims to improve their performance. 

Besides the doping, Salazar's and Nike's treatment of the female athletes was disgusting. Kara and Adam Goucher (neither of whom participated in Salazar's doping schemes) share Kara's trials of returning to running after giving birth. In addition, she wasn't paid when she was pregnant. As an employee of Nike, she was told that she had to abide by her contract. In order to be paid, Kara had to race and win. Can you imagine this? Like Mary Cain, Amy Yoder Begley, another Nike athlete, was subjected to verbal abuse on a regular basis from Salazar with regards to her weight. 

While some of what I read was hard to believe, Hart's research is thorough and well-documented. Were the runners as complicit as Salazar? He did have success with some of his athletes, so that may have helped convince some runners to go along with him. But did the athletes want to win so badly that they were able to accept the risks of using performance-enhancing drugs? Or were they so trusting in his methods that they were able to suspend any modicum of credulity? I mean, come on, testosterone? How do you justify cheating to win? And is the desire to succeed so great that you'd be willing to put up with such terrible treatment as the female athletes did? When do you say, enough is enough like Kara Goucher and Mary Cain finally did?

It's also mind-blowing to me that Nike was either unaware of what was happening or willing to turn a blind eye to Salazar's methods. I guess as long as they're selling shoes, anything goes. To his credit, Hart tries to present the information without bias. There are plenty of stories shared by other Nike runners in the book, adding more credibility to Hart's research. If a source responded to any of his allegations, he includes that. His book is well referenced. 

Win At All Costs is a crazy good read. It left me feeling bad for the athletes who really were the victims in Salazar's and Nike's 'Just Do It' world of winning. Imagine that you had this gift of running, you sign a contract with Nike, and get a coach who's going to make you a world champion. Instead, you find yourself being abused and exploited. It sounds akin to making a deal with the devil.

I'm so glad I don't run in Nikes.

Have you read Win At All Costs? Heard any of the stories about Salazar or the athletes? Care to weigh in?

Just do it? Winning At All Costs is a great read! My review: @oldrunningmom @deystreet @TheMattHart #running #runchat #runnning book club

I'm linking up with Kim and Zenaida for Tuesday Topics and with the Runners' Roundup: Debbie, Deborah, Jen, Laura, and Lisa.