Spanish Olympian and two-time world championship medallist Mohamed Katir was handed a four-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) on Friday for falsifying journey paperwork in assist of his rejected rationalization for his three whereabouts failures in 2023.
The AIU has banned Mohamed Katir for 4 years, from 7 February 2024, for Tampering.
Particulars right here: https://t.co/DWFMES7xfjhttps://t.co/juFqZJbM17 (web page 4) pic.twitter.com/YA3NcuJujG
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) December 20, 2024
As an alternative of accepting wrongdoing and taking over the two-year whereabouts ban, the 26-year-old middle-distance runner was discovered to have falsified journey paperwork (particularly a journey itinerary, boarding move and reserving affirmation) in an try to mislead investigators as they probed the integrity of his rationalization for a whereabouts failure that occurred on Feb. 28, 2023.
The four-year ban will run concurrently with Katir’s ongoing whereabouts sanction, extending his ban from the game till February 2028. This implies he shall be compelled to overlook each the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing.
In line with the AIU, the world 5,000m silver medallist missed three exams between Feb. 28, 2023, and Oct. 10, 2023 (lacking three doping exams in a 12-month window leads to an ADRV).
Katir’s whereabouts failures
On Feb. 28, 2023, a Doping Management Officer (DCO) went to the deal with in Murcia, Spain indicated within the Athlete’s Whereabouts data; upon arrival, the DCO was instructed that Katir was in Lisbon, Portugal, and wouldn’t be returning till March 2.
Katir missed one other take a look at on April 3, when a DCO confirmed up at his dwelling in Murcia once more. Once they arrived, Katir was coaching in France, and had didn’t replace his whereabouts. Katir instructed the AIU he tried to replace his data, however the system was not working. He was charged along with his second violation when he didn’t ship an electronic mail offering proof of technical points.
His third violation occurred on Oct. 10, when a DCO went to the required location throughout a 60-minute time slot between 7:20 p.m. and eight:20 p.m. When the DCO arrived, Katir was away at coaching, and later insisted there was a mistake in his whereabouts, and claimed he by no means modified the time slot from his typical 7:00 a.m. to eight:00 a.m. window.
Katir is a two-time world championship medallist within the males’s 1,500m and 5,000m occasions. He received silver within the 5,000m behind Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen on the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
AIU head Brett Clothier mentioned the ruling underscored the seriousness of tampering: “Gone are the times in athletics when explanations provided in anti-doping instances are simply accepted at face worth,” Clothier careworn. “The overwhelming majority of our elite athletes respect the strict guidelines and processes of the game and they need to take coronary heart on the motion being taken to make sure a stage enjoying subject.”