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Win at All Costs

Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception

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Win at All Costs

Written by: Matt Hart
Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg
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""After years of rumors and speculation, Matt Hart sets out to peel back the layers of secrecy that protected the most powerful coach in running. What he finds will leave you indignant—and wondering whether anything in the high-stakes world of Olympic sport has truly changed."" —Alex Hutchinson, New York Times bestselling author of Endure

Game of Shadows meets Shoe Dog in this explosive behind-the-scenes look that reveals for the first time the unsettling details of Nike's secret running program—the Nike Oregon Project.

In May 2017, journalist Matt Hart received a USB drive containing a single file—a 4.7-megabyte PDF named “Tic Toc, Tic Toc. . . .” He quickly realized he was in possession of a stolen report prepared a year earlier by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for the Texas Medical Board, part of an investigation into legendary running coach Alberto Salazar, a Houston-based endocrinologist named Dr. Jeffrey Brown, and cheating by Nike-sponsored runners, including some of the world’s best athletes. The information Hart received was part of an unfolding story of deception which began when Steve Magness, an assistant to Salazar, broke the omertà—the Mafia-like code of silence about performance-enhancing drugs among those involved—and alerted USADA. He was soon followed by Olympians Adam and Kara Goucher who risked their careers to become whistleblowers on their former Nike running family in Beaverton, Oregon.

Combining sports drama and business exposé, Win at All Costs tells the full story of Nike’s running program, uncovering a corporate win-at-all-costs culture.

Olympics & Paralympics Running & Jogging Sports Olympics Oregon
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After loving Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog, the story that made Nike, this was a glimpse into what the company culture has morphed into. It’s clear that to win at all costs a company needs someone as disturbed as Alberto Salazar. If you’re a fan of running this story is well worth reading or listening to. Enjoy

The other side of Victory

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The writer did a lot of research compiling this book, so for information alone it is useful. However, the lengths to which he goes to vilify Nike and Alberto Salazar get silly. The author does not hide his leftist, social-justice lens and, I hate to say this, lack of feel for the sport. Repeatedly, for example, he demonizes Nike for not wanting to pay runners when they take time away from the sport, such as for injuries and pregnancy. Nike worries about its bottom line; perish the thought! Some senior Nike executives might have even referred to lesbians as dykes. He also belittles Salazar's unconventional "esoteric" coaching, even though his success speaks for itself. The book makes Salazar, although not exactly a gentleman, look like a victim of his own success.

Too Dramatic, Nike Comes Off Well

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