Our guest today is Matt Hart, author of the book, Win at All Costs: Inside Nike Running and its Culture of Deception. This is an important book that everyone interested in competitive athletics should read, and it is a remarkable piece of investigative journalism.
Listeners of our Blister Podcast heard me mention this book when Cody Townsend and I were talking about what we were reading, and so two days ago I headed up to Boulder, Colorado to sit down with Matt and record our conversation.
Matt and I talk about how he got interested in and involved with this story; why I kept telling him I hated this book; whether we should just make all performance-enhancing drugs legal in all sports; who is most to blame for PED use in sports: the athletic brands, the coaches, or the athletes?; how he went about fact checking a massive story like this; what Nike’s response to the book has been; and more.
This is a great conversation that raises a lot of important topics, and after you listen to this conversation, you should read Win at All Costs.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- Matt’s background (3:45)
- The Nike Oregon Project (18:42)
- Legal vs. illegal drugs (23:16)
- Drugs in sports: who is most to blame? (31:54)
- Fact-checking the book (1:06)
- Nike’s response to the book? (1:15:45)
- Alberto Salazar’s upcoming trial (1:18:51)
Whatever you say about nike, they make great shoes!