Mo Farah missed two drug tests before 2012 London Olympics Golds

Farah(L) after Gold at the London Olympics with embattled coach Salazar(C) and Galen Rupp

Investigations by a team at the Daily Mail have shown that double Olympic Champion Mo Farah missed two drug tests ahead of the 2012 London Olympics. He first missed a test in 2010, prior to breaking the 5000m record in Britain, previously held by athlete David Moorcroft.

He missed this only a few months before he began training under coach Alberto Salazar, who was the subject of a BBC Panaroma documentary investigating serious allegations that Salazar was involved in the doping of several athletes who trained under him, among them Farah and American Olympic runner Galen Rupp. Steven Magness, Salazar’s second-in-command, alleges seeing paperwork proving that Salazar was doping Rupp since the latter was a 16-year-old high school student.

Farah was absent for two of the test days, claiming the second test was missed because he ‘did not hear his doorbell’. He was already training with Salazar at the time, and a third missed test could have jeopardised his presence at the 2012 Olympics

Several athletes who trained under Salazar at the Nike Oregon project also allege that Salazar recommended them to doctors, prescribing thyroid medication and testosterone supplementation they did not need in order to enhance their performance, among them Kara Goucher, arguably the U.S.A’s most accomplished long-distance runner.

At the time, there had been no indication that Farah, who won gold at the 5000m and 10,000m events at the 2012 Olympics in London, was also involved in doping, with UK Athletics saying they stood by Farah and believed in his innocence. They are now, however, conducting independent tests of Farah’s samples to ensure he is in no way involved in doping.

The Mail claim that there is email correspondence from Salazar to Farah from the time – dated 5^th May, 2011, saying "If you miss another test, they will hang you."

Salazar and Rupp have denied all wrongdoing despite several former members of Salazar’s training team and athletes coached by him alleging otherwise.

Farah pulled out of the Diamond League games at Birmingham and has not been at an athletic meet since. A statement is awaited from UK Athletics. Investigations are also on at USADA, but they have refused comment as per protocol.