Kara Goucher’s marathon struggle against doping

Blowing the whistle on her former coach has cost the long-distance runner dearly. But she refuses to give up the fight against drug cheats in sport

In 2007, Kara Goucher finished third in the 10,000 metres. Only now has she been awarded the silver, after Elvan Abeylegesse was stripped of her medals for doping Pictures: Getty

Picture the scene.

It’s the night before the US marathon trials for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Long distance runner Kara Goucher is at a table for four with her husband, her new coach and her agent, in a pokey, out-of-the-way Italian restaurant in Los Angeles. Three years previously, Goucher blew the whistle on her former friend and coach Alberto Salazar, reporting his conduct and that of the Nike-Oregon Project he leads to the ...