Coaching Edge 33 2013 | Page 9

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© Steven Paston/Action Images Limited

|ALBERTO SALAZAR| COACHING EDGE

He’s in danger of becoming Britain’s favourite American
after inspiring Mo Farah to the ‘double double’ of gold
medals. But just what are the techniques of maverick
coach Alberto Salazar? Matt Majendie caught up with
the former marathon star to find out.

M

ichelangelo seems an
initially unlikely
benchmark for a
long-distance
athletics coach, but it is to the former
Italian sculptor and artist that Salazar
likes to look for inspiration when it
comes to his coaching philosophy.

A case in point was at the London
Anniversary Games this summer when Farah
had once again produced one of his
trademark kicks for the line to beat a worldclass 5000m field. Most coaches at that point
would have been satisfied with the work
done. Instead, with the stadium now empty,
his charge returned to the track to produce
high tempo lap after lap.

Salazar has moulded Farah into the world’s
leading distance runner and, in his quest to
do so, goes back to artwork in the 16th
century rather than the more typical
coaching manuals.

It is this method that has enabled the British
athlete to get to the top of the sport, which he
did in some style by winning the Olympic
double over 5000m and 10,000m. Most
people would have rested on their laurels but
not Salazar, who saw flaws from Farah in
both races and pushed him harder still. The
result? A rare double double – only once
achieved before by Kenenisa Bekele – with
Farah winning both distance races at the
World Championships in Moscow just a few
weeks ago.

‘Michelangelo said that in creating a
sculpture he merely frees that sculpture from
a block of marble,’ is one of Salazar’s
many catchphrases.
The Cuban-born American, a former worldclass marathon runner who won the New
York and Boston events during a golden
period of form in the early 1980s, has
helped take Farah to the top of his sport by
effectively leaving no stone unturned.

So how exactly does Salazar coach Farah?
What is it that stands both coach and
athlete apart?