The sanction against Mo Katir is toughened and increased from two to four years. Sports Resolution, the body in charge of processing World Athletics disciplinary files and procedures, has made this decision by determining that the Spanish athlete committed tamperingwhat is known as manipulation or attempted manipulation of the anti-doping control process. The long-distance runner can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS), something he is currently considering.
This violation responds to article 2.5 of the anti-doping regulations. It should be remembered that the athlete was already sanctioned. This started in February and initially had a two-year extension: it was due to the violation of article 2.4 of said regulations, which has to do with location failures to carry out controls. He was not reachable in three of these in a period of one year, which implies violating the anti-doping rule protocol.
The action of tampering that is now charged dates back to February 28, 2023. The sanctioning body points out that on that day the first location failure occurred and that the date of a plane trip to Lisbon was changed in the reservation and ticket. Apparently, Katir had informed the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) that he had traveled to the Portuguese city on a certain day and the reality is that he had done so two days before.
With this resolution – by which no sporting results are annulled – the sanction for the 5,000 meter world runner-up continues to count from February 7 of this year, but his return could not occur until the same date in 2028. , when he would be a few days away from turning 30 years old.
The extension of the sanction would not allow Mula to return to the competition until February 2028
The one from Mula has reacted to the toughening of his sanction through a statement in which he defends himself. The athlete highlights that no results are annulled “since it is considered that there is no action that has influenced the results achieved” in his sports career.
About the action of tampering which is included in the file and which is attributed to what happened on February 28, 2023 (coinciding with the first location failure at the controls), Mo Katir maintains that it is something that he already recognized and admits that he made that modification when he had traveled to Lisbon two days before: “I assumed that on that date a first location failure occurred due to the whereabouts data not being correctly updated in ADAMS (platform created for this purpose). However, I consider that the unfortunate alteration of the travel date in the reservation and the airline ticket did not and could not have had any consequence on the anti-doping procedure.”
From this perspective, the one who won the bronze in the 1,500 at the World Championships in Eugene considers that “the localization failure was already fully established previously and independently of said alteration, so the existence of a violation of tampering”.
Still regarding the modification of the date, the Spaniard argues that “it was an attempt to provide an explanation for the fact that I was not at my home when an out-of-competition control was attempted.” “At that time I was in Lisbon, and my intention in changing the date was to provide information to clarify my whereabouts during that period, not to subvert or alter the anti-doping procedure,” he adds.
Katir maintains that the action – which he recognizes was “wrong” – was never intended to “question the failure of not having correctly updated the whereabouts data in ADAMS, but rather to justify my absence on a certain day, time and place.”
The alteration of the date was never intended to question the failure of not having correctly updated the whereabouts data in ADAMS, but rather to justify my absence.”
In the statement, the man from Murcia points out that he has never questioned the fact that this first non-compliance with location was recorded “for not having adequately updated the whereabouts data in ADAMS.” This responds to the data relating to his trip to Lisbon, which has not been “the subject of controversy or challenge on my part.”
Therefore, the long-distance runner concludes that he accepted the two-year sanction that was imposed “in accordance with the events that occurred and the applicable regulations,” but that “any additional sanction must be carefully analyzed to guarantee that it is fair and proportional to the circumstances of the case.” case”. In fact, the athlete also criticizes the AIU and finds it “striking” that it took “a year to react to a circumstance that he later considered to be of such seriousness as to request a 5-year suspension period.” “I maintain hope and confidence in being able to return to competition at the beginning of 2026, for which I train every day,” he says.
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