Former teen track prodigy Mary Cain is exposing a culture of abuse that nearly destroyed her

May 3, 2026

At 17, Mary Cain was considered the fastest girl in America. But years of psychological abuse, body shaming and being forced to train while injured and malnourished caused her to leave the sport she loved and excelled in.

“Everything was so normalized that I didn’t leave thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m being abused, I have to leave,’” she told The Current’s Matt Galloway. “I left thinking, ‘I am going to die.’”

She first opened up about her experience at the Nike Oregon Project with revered running coach Alberto Salazar in a 2019 New York Times op-ed, which prompted other elite athletes who trained under him to come forward with their own stories of abuse. In 2021, Salazar received a lifetime ban from track from the U.S. Center for SafeSport for sexual and emotional misconduct, a decision he unsuccessfully appealed.

Now 29, Cain can call out “tough coaching” for what it is: abuse. But as she details in her recent memoir, This Is Not About Running, one of the reasons toxicity is accepted at the highest levels of sport is because it often begins in schools.

As a teen, she had competed against an international field of elite runners, making the World Championships in the 1,500-metre race — and she became the first high schooler to break two minutes in the 800 metres.

Her talent drew hostility from other parents and peers, she said, which her high school coaches condoned.  CBC