Salazar hits back at doping allegations

Eugene - Track coach Alberto Salazar is hitting back at doping allegations against him, releasing a 12 000-word rebuttal of the claims against himself and his star runner, Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp.

Salazar's open letter, released on Wednesday on the eve of U.S. championships, says the Oregon Project he leads "will never permit doping."

Salazar detailed Rupp's history with both thyroid disease and asthma and says he properly received exemptions for medications to treat both conditions.

A story last month by BBC and ProPublica used information from former Salazar assistant Steve Magness and a former Oregon Project runner, Kara Goucher.

In his letter, Salazar said Goucher suffers from the same thyroid disease as Rupp and introduced him to the first endocrinologist who treated him.