Nike's Big Bet

  Streaming with closed captions

Nike established the Oregon Project in 2001 as a groundbreaking program to develop elite runners and put Americans back on top of the podium. Coaching legend Alberto Salazar was put in charge of the program and given free reign to employ his unorthodox tactics to deliver results. In 2019, despite never failing a drug test and his athletes never testing positive, he received a four-year doping ban from all coaching activities and the project immediately collapsed. To his fans, including an outspoken Malcolm Gladwell, Salazar's methods justified the means by pushing the boundaries of what's fair in sport. But to others, including former protégés, he was abusive and manipulative—wielding an unchecked control over their careers and well-being. With a win-at-all-costs attitude and a sport built upon the margins of human limits, is Salazar really a villain or a victim of a corporate culture that would do anything for a competitive edge? Alexander Rogalski

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