Alberto Salazar (born August 7, 1958) achieved most of his track and field fame based in Oregon as an athlete and coach, always pressing the limits of performance. He was the American record holder at 5,000 and 10,000 meters and won numerous significant marathon races before turning to coaching.
Salazar emerged as an outstanding prep athlete in Massachusetts in the 1970s, winning a state cross country title and training with adults of the Greater Boston Track Club. His star rose even higher at the University of Oregon winning back-to-back NCAA cross country titles and finishing second to Henry Rono in one of the fastest 10K XC times in collegiate history. Alberto also took to longer distances on the track, qualifying for the 1980 Olympics, but did not compete due to the US boycott of the Moscow games.
Salazar was already showing the willingness to push himself to extremes, his collapse at the end of the 1978 Falmouth Road Race and the 1982 duel with Dick Beardsley that led to a new course record in the Boston Marathon. The marathon became his signature event in the early 80's, three straight wins in New York and #1 world ranking in the event. He ran the marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Salazar remained a world class competitor on the track and in cross country, winning an Ultramarathon in South Africa in 1994.
It was his grueling training regimen that ultimately ended his running career in 1994 and turned his attention to coaching, which led to a new obsession with performance. The Nike Oregon Project produced a slew of Olympic qualifiers but eventually was disbanded after investigations into doping. Additional allegations of personal misconduct with athletes effectively ended Salazar’s coaching career.