The Nike Oregon Project was a group created by the American corporation

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

, established in

Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...

in 2001. The team folded on October 10, 2019 after an investigation resulted in a four-year ban of longtime coach

Alberto Salazar Alberto Salazar (born August 7, 1958) is an American former track coach and long-distance runner. Born in Cuba, Salazar immigrated to the United States as a child with his family, living in Connecticut and then in Wayland, Massachusetts, where ...

Facilities

The runners lived in the

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

area and trained at Nike's headquarters campus located just outside the Portland suburb of

. Some of the runners in the group lived in a specially designed house where filters were used to remove oxygen from the air to simulate living at high elevation. Numerous studies have shown that living at altitude causes an athlete to develop more red blood cells, increasing athletic performance. In addition to the simulated altitude training, program was used to monitor electrodes attached to the athletes, determining what condition they were in and how far or fast they could train. They used underwater and low-gravity

treadmill A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...

s, which allow athletes to run on a reduced percentage of their own body weight, resulting in less intense impact on the body than outdoor running. They also had a collaboration with Colorado Altitude Training (CAT), a company specializing in

hypoxic Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to: Reduced or insufficient oxygen * Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of a specific environment ** Hypoxia in fish, responses of fish to hypoxia * Hypoxia (medi ...

athletic training, for their training equipment.

Creation

Nike's Oregon Project was created by Nike Vice President Thomas E. Clarke after he reportedly became dissatisfied with the performance of American athletes in long-distance events since the early 1980s. During that time,

(later to become the Oregon Project head coach) had won three consecutive

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

s in 1980, 1981, and 1982. When the project first began, Salazar chose some of the top runners of the time that he believed had great potential. Eventually, however, he concluded that since these athletes were older, their training habits had become ingrained and difficult to overcome; this led Salazar to take on younger athletes instead. His new focus led Salazar to coach Matthew Centrowitz,

Galen Rupp Galen Rupp (born May 8, 1986) is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters in London and ...

, and

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

and

Kara Goucher Kara Goucher (born Kara Grgas on July 9, 1978) is an American long-distance runner, author, television commentator, and podcaster. She was the 10,000 meters silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and represented the USA at ...

. Salazar believes these athletes went on to more success because he was able to work with them from a younger age.

Athletes

Jordan Hasay Jordan Melissa Hogan (née Hasay) (born September 21, 1991) is an American distance runner. She attended Mission College Preparatory High School in San Luis Obispo and was unanimously selected 2008 Girls High School Athlete of the Year by the vo ...

Shannon Rowbury Shannon Solares-Rowbury (born September 19, 1984) is an American middle-distance runner from San Francisco, California. After competing collegiately for Duke University, she turned professional in 2007. Rowbury has represented the United States ...

Suguru Osako is a Japanese long-distance runner. He won the 10,000 metres gold medal at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen and holds the Asian junior record for the half marathon. He held the Japanese National Record for the marathon of 2:05:29 set at t ...

Craig Engels Craig Engels (born May 1, 1994) is an American middle-distance running, middle-distance runner. He competed for the United States at the 2013 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, where he won the men's 1500 meters. In the 2016 United St ...

Clayton Murphy Clayton Murphy (born February 26, 1995) is an American middle-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 800-meter run at the 2016 Olympic Games. He was the gold medalist in the 800-meter run at the 2015 Pan American Games. He ran collegi ...

Eric Jenkins Eric Jenkins (born November 24, 1991) is a retired long-distance runner. In college, he ran for Northeastern University, before transferring to the University of Oregon after his junior year. At the University of Oregon, Jenkins was a two-time N ...

Sifan Hassan Sifan Hassan (; born January 1993 in Ethiopia) is a Dutch middle- and long-distance runner. She is most recognized for her versatility in running championship and world-leading performances in widely disparate distances. She completed an unpr ...

Yomif Kejelcha Yomif Kejelcha Atomsa (born 1 August 1997) is an Ethiopian distance runner. He formerly held world records in the short track mile (3:47.01 from 2019 to 2025) and the half marathon (57:30 from 2024 to 2025). Yomif won the silver medal in the 1 ...

Donavan Brazier Donavan Brazier (born April 15, 1997) is an American Middle-distance running, middle-distance runner. He holds the List of United States junior records in athletics#Men, American junior record in the men's 800 meters and won the 2019 World Champ ...

Konstanze Klosterhalfen Konstanze "Koko" Klosterhalfen (born 18 February 1997) is a German middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2019 World Championship bronze medallist and 2022 European champion in the 5000 metres, becoming the first German medalist of the ...

Jessica Hull Jessica Hull (born 22 October 1996) is an Australian middle and long distance runner. She won a silver medal in the 1500 metres at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Hull is a four-time national champion for Australia, with two titles in the 1500 m and t ...

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World tit ...

Cam Levins Cameron Levins (born March 28, 1989) is a Canadian long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Levins had the best-Canadian finish ever of fourth in the marathon at the 2022 World Champions ...

* Dorian Ulrey *

Tara Erdmann Tara Welling (née Erdmann) is an American long-distance runner. In college, she competed for Loyola Marymount University. She finished 3rd at the 2013 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, but did not earn the "A" standard and therefore did ...

Luke Puskedra Luke Puskedra (born February 8, 1990) is an American long-distance runner who competes over distances ranging from 10,000 meters to the marathon. He grew up in Ogden, Utah and attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School before studying busines ...

Dathan Ritzenhein Dathan James Ritzenhein (born December 30, 1982) is a retired American long-distance runner, and current head coach of the On Athletics Club (OAC). He held the American record in the 5,000 metres (12:56.27) from 2009 to 2010, until it was broke ...

* Mary Cain *

Treniere Moser Treniere Moser (born Treniere Clement October 27, 1981 in Stow, Ohio) is an American track and field athlete specializing in middle-distance races. She is a five-time outdoor champion (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013) at 1500 metres, along with a 2006 ...

Adam Goucher Adam Goucher (born February 18, 1975) is a retired American cross-country and track and field athlete. He ran for the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the men's 5000 meters. Goucher primarily competed in distance events and is feat ...

Matthew Centrowitz, Jr. Matthew Centrowitz Jr. (born October 18, 1989) is an American middle-distance runner, who specializes in the 1500 metres. He won a gold medal in the event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He also achieved a bronze medal at the 201 ...

Leadership

The health of coach and project director

has been in question since he suffered a heart attack at Nike's Beaverton campus on June 30, 2007. From that time, Salazar has been implanted with a defibrillator, and he planned to take a more limited role with Nike Oregon Project. In June 2008, Salazar chose his tentative successor as head of the Oregon Project, hiring cross country coach

Jerry Schumacher Jerry Schumacher (born August 6, 1970) is an American coach for track and field and cross country. Since 2022, he has been the head coach of the University of Oregon's track and field and cross country programs. He has also served as the head ...

away from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. In turn, Schumacher brought his top distance protégé, Matt Tegenkamp, with him to join the program along with

Chris Solinsky Chris Solinsky (born December 5, 1984) is a retired American distance runner and an American college cross country coach. Solinsky is the current assistant coach of the Oregon Ducks cross country team at the University of Oregon. Among his mor ...

and UW–Madison freshman turned pro

Evan Jager Evan Reese Jager (born March 8, 1989) is an American Middle-distance running, middle- and Long-distance running, long-distance Running, runner who specializes in the 3000 metres steeplechase. In his speciality event, he won a silver medal at the ...

Staff

, Head Coach * Pete Julian, Assistant Coach * Dr. Darren Treasure, Ph.D. * David McHenry, Physical Therapist

Criticisms

In 2002, the Oregon Project came under scrutiny from the

United States Anti-Doping Agency The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA, ) is a non-profit, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization and the national anti-doping organization (NADO) for the United States. To protect clean competition and the integrity of sport and prevent ...

(USADA) after head coach

's assistant coach Steve Magness advised the agency to investigate the project. Which caused them to form a think tank to discuss the ethics of the high-altitude house. The Agency's Senior Managing Director, Larry Bowers said, Alberto Salazar was confident the Anti-Doping Agency would ultimately approve the altitude house, saying that it's no different from other legal scientific advances like heart rate monitors and sports drinks. In 2006, the subject was revisited more thoroughly by the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

(WADA) which claimed that it could be equivalent to blood doping and therefore they should be banned; however, on September 16, 2006,

Dick Pound Richard William Duncan Pound (born March 22, 1942), better known as Dick Pound, is a Canadian swimming champion, lawyer, and spokesman for ethics in sport. He was the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and vice-president ...

of the WADA announced that "... the overwhelming consensus of our health, medicine and research committees – was that, at this time, it is not appropriate to do so." No explanation was given as to how WADA could possibly have enforced such a ban. The Oregon Project has also been criticized by college track coaches for recruiting

directly out of high school to go live at the high-altitude house and forgo attending

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

for his first year. On May 19, 2017,

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

wrote an article about a leaked and unverified U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report that claimed Salazar worked with athletes to increase their

L-carnitine Carnitine is a quaternary ammonium compound involved in metabolism in most mammals, plants, and some bacteria. In support of energy metabolism, carnitine transports long-chain fatty acids from the cytosol into mitochondria to be oxidized for fre ...

levels. The main accusation involved was that the

intravenous Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutr ...

method used could potentially have violated USADA anti-doping rules if the amount infused was too high. On October 1, 2019, the USADA banned Alberto Salazar for 4 years due to allegations he "trafficked

testosterone Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone and androgen in Male, males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testicles and prostate, as well as promoting se ...

, infused a prohibited amount of L-carnitine and tried to tamper with doping controls." Salazar planned to appeal the ban immediately, but wasn't able to due to COVID pandemic restrictions. In 2021 he was able to attempt an appeal. However

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' ...

chose to uphold the ban. On November 7, 2019, The New York Times released a video

Op-Ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...

in which former Oregon Project athlete Mary Cain alleged that she suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of Alberto Salazar during her time at the project. Cain claimed that she was pressured to take illegal

diuretic A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics ...

s and shamed about her weight to the point of self-harm and suicidal thoughts. In a statement, Salazar denied most of the allegations. Nike also made an official statement challenging the allegations, citing Cain's desire to rejoin the team in April 2019. In December of 2021, he was given a lifetime ban after an arbitrator deemed that he had most likely committed sexual assault twice against his athletes. This led to an investigation by the

United States Center for SafeSport The United States Center for SafeSport is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization set up to reduce sexual abuse of minors and athletes in Olympic sports in the United States. Established in 2017 under the Protecting Young Victims from Sex ...

which found that he had actually 4 violations, solidifying his permanent ban.

Closure of the Nike Oregon Project

On October 10, 2019,

announced that they would be closing down the Nike Oregon project. The CEO of Nike,

Mark Parker Mark Parker (born October 21, 1955) is an American businessman. He is the executive chairman of Nike, Inc. He was named the third CEO of the company in 2006 and was president and CEO until January 13, 2020. From 2023 to 2025, he was the chairman ...

, reported that the situation surrounding the actions of

were distracting for the athletes and compromising their ability to focus on their training and competition needs. The current runners involved in the project would be assisted by Nike to find alternative training arrangements.

References

External links

* (archived, 20 Sep 2019) {{Footer Nike Oregon Project Track and field clubs in the United States O Sports in Oregon Beaverton, Oregon 2001 establishments in Oregon 2019 disestablishments in Oregon Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 2019 Sports clubs and teams established in 2001