Clean Sport Collective

Evan Dunfee is a top name in the sport of elite race walking, but perhaps more importantly, he is an outspoken advocate for both clean sport and athlete rights.

Evan finished an agonizing 4th at the Rio Olympics in the 50K race walk and then came back to earn the coveted bronze medal at the World Championships in Doha in 2019.

Kara and Chris interview Evan, and they discuss both experiences including the one thing that made that 4th place finish in Rio particularly satisfying (hint: clean athletes), plus how he prepared for the extremely hot and humid conditions in Doha.

We discuss his beginnings in the sport of race walking, which actually started with him as a runner at an early age. Evan gives us a lesson in how race walking - "running with rules" - actually works and how he progressed from a national talent in Canada to an athlete who could compete with the best in the world.

Evan holds nothing back as he discusses doping in race walking, the Russian ban, and what can be done to elevate the athlete's voice through all of it. If you know nothing else about Evan Dunfee, then you will want to listen to hear his story about getting kicked out of a competitive venue for yelling doping accusations at an athlete who would later be banned.

Evan isn't afraid to tell it like it is, and we could certainly use more athletes like him in the fight for clean sport.

We are excited to introduce you to Uli Fluhme. He is a race director and clean sport advocate in the sport of cycling, and his story is a fascinating one.

Uli grew up competing in the world of European cycling where he was on a team that would send athletes to the Olympics. While Uli himself says that "he wasn't good enough for them to waste the drugs on him," he saw firsthand the impact performance enhancing drugs had on the sport and how it affected the lives of his friends.

These experiences shaped him as an athlete and now as an advocate for clean sport. After a detour as a lawyer on Wall Street, he is back in the sport as a race director and now using his platform to take a stand.

Chris and Shanna talk to Uli about the culture in cycling and how it's changed (or not) in the last 3 decades. We discuss his race and the unique drug testing protocol he has implemented which includes not only out-of-competition testing but also lifetime bans for those busted through the process.

In addition, we get his insight on what more can be done by governing bodies to promote clean sport and how we as fans can get involved. Uli is an unsung hero in the fight for clean sport and an amazing example of how we can all have impact if we just stand up for what's right in the world that we can touch.

We continue a new year of Clean Sport podcasts with another amazing guest as 2018 Boston Marathon Champion Desiree Linden joins Kara and Chris on the show.

You know Des as a two-time Olympian in the marathon with 3 podium finishes in World Marathon Majors including two second place finishes at Boston and Chicago, and then of course her epic win in Boston in 2018 in nor'easter conditions. But, do you know how she started in sport? Did you know that her favorite event in high school and college was the 1500 and that she begged her coach not to make her race longer distances?

We get that history plus much more about her career in this open and honest conversation that includes a recap of her heartbreaking near-win in Boston in 2011 and the heroic run that brought redemption in Boston in 2018.

Plus, Des gives us her straightforward perspective on competing against doped athletes, why the Olympics has lost some luster for her, what she thinks about the performance-enhancing shoes, and of course, what she wants to see done in order to clean up the sport for future generations.

One of the things we love about Des is that she isn't afraid to speak her mind, and on this episode she doesn't disappoint. We are excited to see her compete for another Olympic team at the Marathon Trials in Atlanta on February 29th and then go after another Boston title shortly thereafter on April 20th.

We are excited to kick off a new decade of fighting for clean sport with this powerful episode. Some use the word whistleblower, but we prefer to use the word truth-teller to describe our next guest - Steve Magness.

Steve was a precocious talent as a runner in high school and college with a 4:01 personal best in the mile. Along the way, he developed an interest in coaching and that led him down a path to become an assistant coach alongside Alberto Salazar at the Nike Oregon Project (NOP). Little did he know that joining the NOP would change his life forever because of what he saw and experienced there.

Chris and Kara talk with Steve about those experiences including his initial impressions of Salazar and the early warning signs that his methods might be suspicious. We discuss what led Steve to be a guinea pig in Salazar's experiments with L-Carnitine injections, including Steve's long-time relationship with Dr. Brown (who administered the injections) that dated back to his high school years.

We learn about the moment that Steve decided that he had to leave the NOP and what it was like to come forward to USADA and eventually the public with the truth.

From there, Steve shares his reactions to the doping bans handed down to Salazar and Dr. Brown as well as what he would like to see Nike do in order to dramatically change the culture in our sport for the better.

In this interview, Steve discusses stories and perspectives about his journey that we had never before heard. We can't thank him enough for everything he has done to tell the truth, do what's right, and therefore make a huge difference in the fight for clean sport in spite of the risk of great personal sacrifice.

In this episode, Chris and Shanna interview James Wilks, retired UFC Fighter and Producer from the documentary The Game Changers.

James was born and raised in England and began experimenting with martial arts at a young age. He progressed to become a black belt in both Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and would go on to compete on the reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter, which earned him a spot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

As a UFC fighter, he became a welterweight champion before a knee injury forced him to take a break from fighting. During that break, he began researching and talking to experts and other athletes on nutrition, and as a result, he started experimenting with plant-based eating himself. This journey would lead him to conceptualize and produce the film The Game Changers which shows how plant-based eating can improve performance and recovery.

With James, we discuss his personal journey as an athlete and fighter and how that led him to his role with The Game Changers. James shares his own transition to plant-based eating as well as the science that supports how it can improve strength and endurance. In addition, we discuss the clean sport culture and progression of drug testing within fighting.

For those looking for safe, clean, and legal performance enhancers, then perhaps look no further than the plants that are all around us. Those are marginal gains that we can support!

On November 15th, the North Face Endurance Challenge hosted us for a Clean Sport panel with elite trail athletes Rob Krar and Dylan Bowman, track athlete and prior Clean Sport Collective Podcast guest Alysia Montaño, and co-host Kara Goucher.

With this panel, it is fascinating to hear the differences in testing and clean sport culture across road, trail and track racing.

Alysia discusses her recent medal upgrade experience in Doha. Dylan and Rob provide insight into the trail community and its current rudimentary approach to drug testing. Kara discusses why the Salazar ban was such a landmark decision, and all of the athletes give their perspectives on what should come next for athletes, the governing bodies, brands, events, and the fans.

Thank you to the North Face Endurance Challenge for hosting us. As a brand and event that has signed the Clean Sport pledge, we appreciate your leadership in promoting a better culture for all athletes.

Roger Pielke is a name you need to know. He has a Ph.D in Political Science and is a professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder. At CU, he is the director of the Sports Governance Center within the Department of Athletics at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research.

That might all sound boring to you, but Roger's curiosity at the intersection of science, policy, sport has led him to be a critical player on topics that matter within sports governance. He has testified against the IAAF in the Caster Semenya case regarding sex testing in sport. He is an expert on sport governance related to anti-doping efforts and is active in the research needed to improve the rules and regulations promoting clean sport.

In this interview, Kara and Chris interview Roger and discuss a range of topics within sports governance from the Caster Semenya case to the Russian doping scandal. He also provides his perspective on why WADA, the IAAF, and the IOC can't effectively govern anti-doping efforts and what needs to be done to fix a broken system.

Roger brings a much-needed objective and evidence-based perspective to these really complicated topics. While his conclusions might surprise you sometimes, his voice is so important to educate us all on what can and should be done to better promote clean sport.

In this episode, Shanna and Kara interview steeplechase World Champion Emma Coburn.

Emma is an athlete that really needs no introduction, but for those that don't know, Emma is a 3-time global championship medalist. She won the bronze medal in 2016 at the Rio Olympics. She won the gold medal in London at the 2017 World Championships, and she followed that with the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. Emma attended the University of Colorado where she earned three NCAA championships, two in the steeplechase and one in the indoor mile. She also own eight US championships in the steeplechase where she has been the dominant force since 2011.

In this interview with Emma, Shanna and Kara cover a wide range of topics from her beginnings as an athlete in the small mountain town of Crested Butte to what it's like to compete on the world stage against the best of the best. Emma talks about what she learned while running at the University of Colorado, what it's like to be coached by her husband Joe, the positive dynamic within her current training group, her secrets to consistency, and what she does to stay busy outside of running (hint: www.elkrun5k.com).

Emma discusses when she realized that the playing field was tainted by potential drug cheats and how she approaches competing with that knowledge. In addition, she tells a crazy drug testing story from the Rio Olympics and gives you the names of two brands who support both her and clean sport.

Emma is an inspiring athlete, a clean sport advocate, and just an all-around great person. Listen in, be a fan, and buy from the brands that sponsor and support an athlete like her!

We were very honored to sit down with Amelia Boone in New York City just before the marathon in a room full of gold shoes in the basement of Mile High Run Club. Amelia is not only a 4-time World Champion in the sport of obstacle course racing (OCR), but even more impressively, she did it while maintaining a full-time job as a corporate lawyer.

With this episode, Shanna and Chris interview Amelia to talk about her meteoric rise from 1st-timer to OCR World Champion. We discuss her background in sport and the keys to her championships including the grit and determination that drives her.

We dig into why Amelia decided to come forward about her struggles with an eating disorder and what her ongoing recovery looks like day to day. From there, we talk about the sport of OCR and how it's evolved since Amelia did her first race in 2011, including the clean sport culture and testing protocols (or lack thereof). She gives valuable insight into what events and sponsors should be doing to help the cause. Near the end, Amelia shares a lawyer's perspective on who she believes is the real MVP for Nike in the great shoe debate regarding the Nike Vapor Fly.

Amelia has a positive energy that is infectious and we dare you to listen to this one without smiling. Thank you to Amelia for sharing your story.

For additional reading/listening, here is Amelia's initial public blog discussing her recovery from an eating disorder:

http://www.ameliabooneracing.com/blog/uncategorized/therecoveryineeded/ And here is the 2-hour Rich Roll podcast where she covers that topic in much more depth:

https://www.richroll.com/podcast/amelia-boone-475/

In 2012, Mary Cain set the US High School record in the 1500m at the World Junior Championships running 4:11. Later that year, she got a call from Alberto Salazar who invited her to come train with the Nike Oregon Project (NOP). She was 16 years old. After joining the NOP, she had initial success that belied her age including a remarkable run in 2014 when she won the 1500m at the US Indoor Championships, finished 2nd to Jenny Simpson at the US Outdoor Championships, and then capped an amazing year winning the 3000m at the World Junior Championships. From there, her experience took a dark and heartbreaking turn that would ultimately cause her to leave the NOP for reasons that only recently have been made public. On November 7th, Mary came forward to share her story of weight shaming and emotional abuse during her time with Salazar and the NOP in this NY Times video op-ed. Kara and Shanna lead this powerful interview with Mary as she gives more details about her time with Alberto Salazar and the NOP. She talks about that initial phone call from Salazar and her subsequent decision to join the Nike Oregon Project. She tells the story about when Salazar first discussed her weight with her right after she won the 3000m at the World Junior Championships. From there, she details how her weight became Salazar's near-constant obsession, leading her to feel like something was wrong with her. Isolated and ashamed, she discusses how workouts and races became increasingly difficult as she struggled to meet the unrealistic expectations put on her and her body. She talks about how no one reached out or stood up for her until she finally made the decision to tell her parents about her struggles. From there, you will hear about the tension between her misdirected love for Alberto and the terrible actions against her, along with what ultimately caused her to come forward and what she hopes happens next. We believe and support Mary Cain and consider her a hero for telling her story. We thank her for shining the spotlight not only on a broken system at Nike, "the global leader of sport", but also on how positions of power in sport can create an unhealthy view on bodyweight and performance.