By Brigid McCabe '21 and Charlotte Sandler '21
In 2013, Mary Cain was the fastest high school female runner in American history. By the
time she graduated as a senior, she had broken and set U.S. National High School outdoor track records in the 800m, 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m, thus demonstrating almost unthinkable speed, stamina, and range. At just 17 years old, Mary became the youngest individual to qualify for a spot on the U.S. World Championships team. When she chose not to go to college, and instead signed a contract with the Nike Oregon Project under Coach Alberto Salazar, some predicted it was the start of a professional career that would make Cain the fastest female of all time.
But just months after Mary Cain became a member of the best track program in the world
under one of the most respected coaches in the field, things started to go downhill. Cain began to consistently underperform. She wasn’t regularly winning races or setting personal records, and she soon started to experience frequent injuries, mostly broken bones. Behind
the scenes, the reasons for the increasingly disappointing performances were quite obvious: Cain was suffering from the effects of mental abuse and physical abuse at the
hands of her coach, Alberto Salazar. But from a fan and spectator perspective, the rise and fall of Mary Cain was sad and confusing, with no clear explanation. Over the course of the following years, the world moved on without answers and Mary Cain became an afterthought.
On November 7th, 2019, The New York Times published an opinion video and article
revealing the emotional and physical abuse that Cain allegedly faced at the hands of the Nike Oregon Project under the positively proclaimed, world-class track and field coach, Alberto Salazar. In the video, Cain describes the measures that Salazar would go to in order to have her lose weight, which included birth control pills and diuretics. In addition to that, Salazar also psychologically prompted her to lose weight by weighing her in front of her teammates to shame her, and yelling at her when she underperformed. Cain’s unhealthy weight journey caused her to stop menstruating for three years because her body didn’t have enough estrogen to maintain her bone health, which in turn caused her to break five bones. Despite the fact that there were witnesses of this abuse, Cain claims that “nobody did anything,” even those who saw her harm herself when she began to have suicidal thoughts. After an abusive experience under the Oregon Project, Cain finally left in Oct. 2016 and returned to New York, where she would professionally train.
Three years later, Cain finally has come out to tell her story in hopes that, by sharing her
experience in an abusive system, reforms within the sports world will be made with the goal of supporting the health of young female athletes, rather than maintaining a culture of unrealistic athletic standards based on how men and boys develop. Some question why Cain has voiced these allegations three years later as opposed to when the abuse occurred. However, she explains, it was Salazar’s four-year-suspension from the sport due to his violation of the anti-doping code that inspired her to speak up against a system that is damaging the livelihood of innumerable athletes.
Nike is currently dealing with effects of these accusations. In fact, they have issued an apologetic response and are conducting an investigation on Cain’s allegations.
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