Goucher's career has been plagued with injury. Despite having continually been ranked as one of the foremost American competitors at distances between 1500 m and 5000 m, he was prevented from performing optimally at the 2004 Olympic Trials by an Achilles heel problem and thus did not qualify for the Olympic team. The Olympic Trials were a culmination of a very rough period for him and soon thereafter he left Mark Wetmore, his longtime coach and friend, to train with Alberto Salazar in Oregon.