Former teen running sensation Mary Cain slammed the Nike Oregon Project and Nike in a story and video appearing Thursday on the New York Times website.

Cain was a member of the Oregon Project from 2013-16. She joined the group while still a teenager and continued to train with the NOP in Portland through her freshman year at the University of Portland.

She set a number of U.S. high school and junior records and won the 2014 world junior title in the 3,000 meters.

She alleges in the video she constantly was told to lose weight, was weighed in front of other runners, and told she could get on birth control and take diuretics to regulate her body weight.

Cain, now 23, complains the Oregon Project had no female coaches or certified nutritionists. She says she suffered physical injury and a disrupted menstrual cycle because of the way she was trained. She says she felt emotionally abused to the point that in 2015 she began cutting herself, and left Portland to return to her home in New York.

Cain formally left the training group following the 2016 U.S. Olympic trials, in which she finished 11th in the women’s 1,500 final.

She says the Oregon Project and coach Alberto Salazar were representative of a win-at-all-costs ethos at Nike.

Nike disbanded the Oregon Project last month after Salazar was banned for four years for violating anti-doping rules by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Salazar has appealed the ban. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is expected to issue a ruling next year on the appeal.

In October, Nike CEO Mark Parker announced he would step down next year.

In the video, Cain calls for Nike to have less control over U.S. track and field, for the company to have more women in positions of leadership, and for the company to change its approach to women’s running.

Nike responded with this statement:

“These are deeply troubling allegations which have not been raised by Mary or her parents before. Mary was seeking to rejoin the Oregon Project and Alberto’s team as recently as April of this year and had not raised these concerns as part of that process. We take the allegations extremely seriously and will launch an immediate investigation to hear from former Oregon Project athletes. At Nike we seek to always put the athlete at the center of everything we do, and these allegations are completely inconsistent with our values.”

-- Ken Goe

kgoe@oregonian.com | @KenGoe

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