Mark Parker to step down but Nike CEO insists decision is 'unrelated' to Oregon Project closure

Mark Parker is stepping aside as Nike CEO after 13 years in the role
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Nike CEO Mark Parker is to step down from the role just weeks after Alberto Salazar was banned for doping offences following practices at the Nike Oregon Project.

Parker, who had been in the role for 13 years, had very publicly backed Salazar and said that Nike would support an appeal to clear his name.

But in the increasing fall-out from the Salazar affair, which accounted for the axing of UK Athletics performance director Neil Black in the wake of his unwavering support for Salazar and the shutdown of NOP, Parker is effectively the latest casualty.

Parker, who will be replaced by former Ebay boss John Donahue and will move to the role of executive chairman having stepped down as CEO, insisted his decision was unconnected to the four-year doping ban for Salazar.

He said: “This has absolutely nothing to do with that. This is not something that happens in a number of weeks. It’s really unrelated to Oregon Project or any other issues.”

Parker’s decision comes two weeks after Nike announced plans to shut down NOP and the 61-year-old telling staff in an internal memo that the project had become “a distraction”.

Parker had been caught in the eye of the storm after it was revealed he had been briefed by Salazar about a testosterone experiment but he rejected any wrongdoing, saying media reports had been “highly misleading” and that the tests had been designed to avoid the practice of testosterone use.

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