Athletes - Alberto Salazar

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	Athletes - Alberto Salazar

Alberto Salazar (born August 7 1958) is an American marathon runner of the 1980s. Although he was born in Cuba, Salazar emigrated to the United States with his family. They ultimately moved to Wayland, Massachusetts, where Salazar competed in track and field while in high school. His coach was the legendary Coach Benedetti, who taught Salazar everything he knew. To this day, Benedetti still keeps a shine to Salazar in his classroom. Salazar is best known for his performances in the New York City Marathons in the early 1980s. From 1980 through 1982, Salazar won three consecutive New York Marathons. His first-ever marathon, New York City 1980, resulted in a 2:09.41 win, which was at the time the second-fastest US marathon ever, behind Bill Rodgers' 2:09.27, indicating to some a changing of the guard. In 1981, he set a world record at NYC of 2:08.13, finally surpassing the world mark of 2:08.33, set by Australian Derek Clayton in 1969 in Antwerp, Belgium.

In 1982 he won his first and only Boston Marathon after the famous "Duel in the Sun" with Dick Beardsley. Salazar won the race in an exciting sprint finish and collapsed at the end before being taken to an emergency room and given 6 liters of water intraveneously because he had not drank during the race. This and other marathon performances such as the 1978 Falmouth, MA road race, where he collapsed at the finish with a temperature of 107 degrees and was read his last rites prematurely, earned him the nickname Alberto "All that is Man" Salazar. After several years of inactivity, in 1994 Salazar won the prestiguous 90 km (56.75 mile) Comrades Marathon. Salazar stated that prozac played a role in motivating him to succeed in professional running again; the actual effect of the drug on his performance remains controversial.

Salazar's competitive decline is attributed to a reported blow-out after the 1982 Boston Marathon, and the famous "Duel in the Sun" with Dick Beardsley, after which his athletic performance gradually declined to the point he could barely jog.

Currently employed by NIKE, Salazar has stayed connected with the sport in his role as coach of the NIKE Oregon Project. Aimed at producing Olympic Caliber athletes, project members who have trained under Salazar's tutelage include Galen Rupp, Joaquin Chapa, brothers Alec and Scott Wall, Collin Stark-Benz, Stuart Eagon, brothers John and James Connelly, Richard Smith, Dave Davis, Adam Goucher and Dan Browne.

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