An article written by Mary Cain was published by the New York Times. Mary Cain is a household name to the track and field community, but for those who don’t know her, she was a young phenom track athlete. By the age of 17, Mary Cain had broken numerous national records and was the youngest American track and field athlete to ever make a World Championships team. She was a young fresh face who was running with professionals, and not just racing them but beating them. Her upward trajectory was unparalleled by any other American woman distance runner, and she was on the path to becoming the best female athlete of all time.
After attending the University of Portland for a Year, Cain was signed to the Nike Oregon Project, run by coach Alberto Salazar. The previously esteemed program had produced a plethora of world-class athletes, and in 2013, when Cain was signed, Alberto Salazar was considered to be the best distance coach in the world. Recently, Salazar was handed a 4-year suspension by USA track and field for doping allegations in his program, and the Nike Oregon Project was completely dismantled. The shut down of the program has brought to light Cain’s story and has provided us with an understanding of why she seemingly disappeared from the running community after making such an impact at a young age.
In a gripping video also published by the New York Times, Cain details the emotional and physical abuse she faced at the hands of Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project. As soon as she joined the program, there was immediate pressure to lose weight. With a target weight of 114 pounds, she struggled to fuel her body to perform at the high level she was competing at. Not only did the pressure of her weight affect her physically, but emotionally Salazar shamed her for being too heavy for races, and blamed her lack of success on her weight. As her mental and physical state deteriorated, Cain was given no comfort or help from coaches. She sunk deeper into depression and even started cutting herself. It was not until she finally broke down and told her parents about the abuse, that she quit the program and tried to regain control of her life.
So how does this happen? How does a phenomenal young athlete turn to self-harm and become suicidal? The answer is the system. In sports like running, many high-level coaches believe that thin equals fast. Many young female runners become obsessed with achieving an arbitrary weight that will guarantee them success on the track. They look to many professional runners and coaching systems and see these women with thin frames excelling, not to say every female distance runner is thin and lanky, but that is the dominant body type, which serves as an inspiration to many. Eating disorders tend to run rampant among runners at the professional, collegiate, and high school level, and the results can be both physically and emotionally detrimental.
By sharing her story, Mary Cain aims to change this system, and create healthy coaching environments. There is a need for female coaches in the male-dominated coaching world of track and field, and Cain’s story places an emphasis on this need. As Cain puts it, ‘I got caught in a system designed by and for men which destroys the bodies of young girls. Rather than force to fend for themselves, we have to protect them.”