By: Grace Lee

In the sports world, it’s often hard to maintain a good or clean reputation. Galen Rupp, the greatest American distance runner of the twenty-first century, has gone from a celebrated hero to facing accusations that he was being provided with performance-enhancing drugs by his former coach, Alberto Salazar.

Despite the accusations, there has been no evidence that proves Rupp guilty of taking any drugs. Rupp still remains a hero, in his home state of Oregon, and is the fastest running teenager ever recorded. The former teen sensation is now 36 and ready to run a World Championship men’s marathon on Sunday that could secure his legacy.

Opinions about him are still mixed, however. Weldon Johnson, once one of the top distance runners in the country and a co-founder of Letsrun.com, says “I think we should evaluate his career like everyone else but with more skepticism since one athlete is tied more closely to Alberto than anyone else and that is Galen Rupp.”

In a sports world where accusations and associations can breed mistrust in the career of an athlete for a lifetime, are competitors like Galen truly able to prove their innocence?