ATHLETICS coach Alberto Salazar will serve the entirety of his four-year ban for doping offenses after losing an appeal against suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), British media reports said Wednesday.

The 63-year-old former head of the now-shuttered Nike Oregon Project was suspended in 2019 for a catalogue of drugs violations.

The BBC and The Times both reported that CAS had upheld Salazar’s suspension following an appeal. Salazar, best known for coaching Britain’s four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah, was suspended two years ago during the World Championships in Doha.

It followed an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which found that Salazar was discovered to have trafficked or attempted to traffic testosterone, given athletes a substance in excess of its permitted limit and tampered with the doping control process of athletes.

USADA said its investigation had uncovered a treasure trove of evidence including “eye-witness proof, testimonies, contemporaneous emails, and patient records.”

Salazar, who was also coaching Ethiopian-born Dutch distance running star Sifan Hassan at the time of his suspension, had steadfastly denied wrongdoing.(SD-Agencies)