Win at All Costs, Matt Hart
Win at All Costs, Matt Hart
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Win at All Costs
Inside Nike Running and Its Culture of Deception

Author: Matt Hart

Narrator: Josh Bloomberg

Unabridged: 13 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/06/2020


Synopsis

"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 EndureGame 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.

About Matt Hart

Matt Hart is a freelance journalist whose writing covers sports science, human-powered adventure and exploration, performance-enhancing drugs, nutrition, and evolution. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, National Geographic Adventure, and Outside magazine, among others. His reporting on the investigations into Salazar appeared on the front page, above the fold, of The New York Times in May 2017. In addition to his access to the Gouchers, other sources for the book include former Nike employees, athletes, and coaches; famed sports-scientist and Oregon Project whistleblower Steve Magness; and Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter, among many others. 


Reviews

Goodreads review by John on November 28, 2020

"Win at All Costs" purports to provide a behind the scenes look at the shady training practices of the Nike Oregon Project, and more specifically its head coach, Alberto Salazar. Hart portrays Salazar as a bumbler of sorts, always casting about for ways to give his runners a competitive edge, even i......more

Goodreads review by Ron on July 18, 2020

A look behind the scenes at The Nike Oregon Project, disgraced coach and running legend Alberto Salazar, and the rot in the richest company in running. While carefully researched and documented, and telling in many ways an all too familiar story, this reads as quick as a thriller or a jacked up runn......more

Goodreads review by Greg on October 31, 2020

This is a meticulously researched and reported takedown of the vaunted Nike Oregon Project and its head coach, Shady Alberto Salazar, who last year was banned for four years for doping violations. The book chronicles the lengths he goes to to bend the banned substance rules...often outright breaking......more

Goodreads review by Colleen on December 31, 2021

Very well-written and probably fascinating for anyone actually interested in the running world. The bottom line of this book was Nike runners used many illegal substances to run real fast. How boring is that? Was so excited to finish this book, which was gifted to me by my dad…my parents’ picks have......more

Goodreads review by Craig on October 31, 2020

I "started" this book on October 24 but, after just finishing reading the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, I needed something simple. From the prologue, Win At All Costs comes in blazing with names, testimonies, and rumors. I don't think I was equipped to deal with it so suddenly so I shelved it knowing......more