Mo Farah Investigated over Alberto Salazar Doping Claims: Details and Comments

Mo Farah is to be investigated over doping claims following allegations levelled at his long-term coach Alberto Salazar.

The chairman of UK Athletics, Ed Warner, confirmed as much on Monday after UKA consultant Salazar was implicated in a BBC Panorama documentary of breaching anti-doping rules along with USA athlete Galen Rupp, per BBC News' Mark Daly.

Rupp and double Olympic gold medalist Farah train under Salazar at the coach's Nike Oregon Project in Portland.

Rupp and Salazar have both denied any wrongdoing, but Warner has confirmed that Farah's medical files will be assessed following the doping implications, per BBC Radio 4’s Today programme (h/t the Guardian):

"

What we can look at is all the data surrounding our own athlete, Mo Farah: blood data, supplements data – everything surrounding his medical treatment. We’re in charge of that. We run that from the UK, through Neil Black, our performance director, Barry Fudge, who’s our endurance expert. We need to make sure there’s nothing else there we haven’t seen, we’re not aware of, hasn’t been analysed. It may well be that the outcome of our own investigation says there’s nothing untoward going on as far as we can uncover in any way, shape or form around British Athletics and a British athlete. 

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Warner added that, if he were a personal friend of Farah's rather than chairman of UK Athletics, he may advise the 32-year-old to distance himself from Salazar.

However, the 5,000- and 10,000-metre champion from London 2012 was not prepared to condemn his coach until his guilt is proven.

Farah withdrew from Sunday's Diamond League event in Birmingham, citing the stresses of the past week and a need to go to the U.S. to "seek answers," per Sky Sports News HQ:

Salazar denied allegations against him—which include giving runner Rupp the anabolic steroid testosterone while still at school— in a statement reported by Sean Ingle of the Guardian:

"

I have said all along that I believe in a clean sport, hard work and I deny all allegations of doping. The BBC and ProPublica have engaged in inaccurate and unfounded journalism, with a complete lack of regard for both Galen and Mo.

Given the time and effort the BBC and ProPublica committed to making these false allegations I hope that media and fans will afford me a short time to show the accusers are knowingly making false statements. I will document and present the facts as quickly as I can so that Galen and Mo can focus on doing what they love and have worked so hard to achieve.

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The 2015 World Championships begin in Beijing on August 22—plenty of time for the investigation into Farah to be completed—a process Warner said would take "weeks, not months," per the Today programme (h/t the Guardian).

Since his successes at London 2012, Farah has become one of the biggest names in UK athletics and UK sport in general.

His legion of fans will be desperate for any investigation to be completed as soon as possible and for his name to be cleared of any wrongdoing.