• Exclusive: Alberto Salazar denies ‘all allegations of doping’ • ‘I have said all along that I believe in a clean sport’

Mo Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar has broken his silence to insist that he will show his accusers are “knowingly making false statements” and says he denies “all allegations of doping”.

Salazar has kept his counsel since issuing a statement denying allegations made by the BBC and the US news website ProPublica and declaring his innocence last week. But it is understood that he has been preparing a detailed riposte to the allegations – including claims that he gave his athlete Galen Rupp, who finished second to Farah in the 10,000m at the London 2012 Olympics, the anabolic steroid testosterone when he was still at high school.

UK Athletics has questions to answer after Alberto Salazar allegations Read more

Salazar reiterated his view that the BBC and ProPublica allegations were inaccurate, unfounded, and had unfairly damaged him and his athletes. “I have said all along that I believe in a clean sport, hard work and I deny all allegations of doping,” he added. “The BBC and ProPublica have engaged in inaccurate and unfounded journalism, with a complete lack of regard for both Galen and Mo.”

In a statement to the Guardian, Salazar – who heads the prestigious Nike Oregon Project where Farah trains – said: “Given the time and effort the BBC and ProPublica committed to making these false allegations I hope that media and fans will afford me a short time to show the accusers are knowingly making false statements. I will document and present the facts as quickly as I can so that Galen and Mo can focus on doing what they love and have worked so hard to achieve.”

The BBC and ProPublica also claimed that Salazar, who is regarded as the best endurance coach in the business and has worked as a consultant for British Athletics since 2013, is said to have mentored Rupp to help him flout strict rules about using intravenous drips.

Kara Goucher, the 10,000m world championship bronze medallist who trained at the Oregon Project until 2013, said that Salazar had coached Rupp to try to get a therapeutic use exemption for an intravenous drip before the 2011 world championships. Under Wada rules, such drips are prohibited and anyone caught manipulating the TUE process to get one would be liable for a ban.

An unnamed athlete also claimed that Salazar told him to get supplemented with testosterone and thyroid when his blood levels were low. That athlete claimed: “I did a blood test at Nike and my thyroid was low and testosterone was low. Dr Loren Myhre [the Nike lab’s head physiologist before he died in 2012] suggested that I go and see an endocrinologist that Alberto and most of the athletes work with, to get testosterone and thyroid.

“He said: ‘This is what Alberto does. You’ll feel better and you’ll be able to train better’, and so then I said: ‘Well, isn’t that cheating?’ And he goes: ‘Well no, Alberto does it.’”

The documentary claimed that six other people who were associated with the Oregon Project have spoken privately to the United States Anti-Doping Agency with concerns about alleged illicit practices and unethical behaviour.

Mo Farah’s blood record to be examined in wake of Alberto Salazar claims Read more

A former Nike Oregon Project coach, John Cook, while not accusing any athlete directly, has warned that athletics is losing the war on drugs. “I think it’s pretty obvious that drug testing can be circumvented in pretty much every corner,” he told Runners World.

“The chemists are getting so good that some of the efficacy [of performance-enhancing drugs taken in small doses] can leave [the bloodstream] in less than 90 minutes. So how do you deal with that? Test in the warm-up area? That’s not going to happen.”

Cook, who worked at the Oregon Project between 2003 and 2005, warned that athletics is in danger of becoming a charade. “I follow the sport without particularly much fervour or excitement because I know too much,” he added. “When I was naive, I liked it a lot more. I’ve been turned off pretty much.

“The average fan remains ignorant in terms of it wanting it be Chariots of Fire. They think if [athletes] test negative, they’re as clean as white snow. That’s the great paradox of the whole charade.”