Cain, 24, made headlines in 2019 when she was featured in an op-ed video for The New York Times and discussed the abuse she endured while on the now-shut-down Nike Oregon Project team. She was told to lose pounds at a dangerous rate because it would make her "faster," and she was weighed in front of her peers. It got so bad that she began to self-harm and had thoughts of ending her life.
"I felt so scared, I felt so alone, and I felt so trapped. And, I started to have suicidal thoughts. I started to cut myself. Some people saw me cutting myself, and nobody really did anything or said anything," Cain said, continuing on to explain that eventually, "I wasn't even trying to make the Olympics anymore, I was just trying to survive."
Note: Head coach Alberto Salazar was banned from the sport for four years due to doping violations. He was also placed on the United States Center for SafeSport's temporarily banned list in January 2020.
