Athletics and cycling back on the defensive (Reuters)

By Iain Rogers MADRID (Reuters) – The specter of doping was again looming over athletics and cycling on Thursday with a top running coach, a world champion steeplechaser from Spain and a Tour de France-winning cyclist on the defensive. American running guru Alberto Salazar, whose British charge Mo Farah is a double Olympic champion, is being investigated by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), a source told Reuters. Cycling, which has been rocked by a series of high-profile doping cases over the past decade, also made the headlines when former Tour de France champion Chris Froome, the poster boy for British cycling, said he missed a drugs test this year.