Javier Sanchez

Updated Thursday, February 8, 2024-01:32

  • Mo Katir Suspended for skipping three anti-doping tests

This Tuesday afternoon, the surprise. Hours before,

Mo Katir

had been the star at the presentation of the international rally in Valencia, where he had announced that he would attack the European record for the 5,000 meters and he had seemed happy, calm, and confident. But then he received an email from the Integrity Unit of the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics). They open a file on him, he is sanctioned. The current world runner-up in the 5,000 meters, the best Spanish distance runner currently, cannot run.

In the last 12 months he has failed three times under the rules of the ADAMS system, that is, on three occasions he was not where he said he would be, and for that he is punished. His file is still open, it is still provisional, the extent of the suspension is not known, but similar cases have ended in up to two years in prison. Goodbye to the European Championship in Rome in June, to the subsequent Spanish Championship and, above all, to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The clearest medal candidate for the Spanish team, out of the way.

"I do not agree with the aforementioned decision and I am preparing to appeal it. In some of the reported location errors I was available at the place, date and time provided by me," the athlete announced in a statement, although his entourage did not confirm this Wednesday if that would be his line of defense. In the next few hours, Katir will request a precautionary measure to be able to continue competing, then he will appeal and, later, if necessary, he will reach the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). It is now in the hands of his lawyers to decide between two different arguments to reverse the sanction: Who to blame?

Doctors, first option

The first option, as his writing said, is to blame the doctors, the so-called vampires, and prove that he was where he said he was. It is the path that, among others, the American sprinter

Christian Coleman

chose - he was not at home, but he showed that he was in a nearby shopping center - and that allowed him a sentence reduced to 18 months. The problem? That he also missed the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The other option is to blame the system directly. It is more complex, more expensive, but it could be more beneficial.

"The ADAMS system, the program through which all athletes must report their whereabouts for one hour every day of the year, is very complicated. It is not easy to understand, it is not suitable for everyone. It also has flaws: sometimes it does not works or it does not notify the athlete in time," Katir's agent,

Miguel Ángel Mostaza

, said this Wednesday in conversation with EL MUNDO, marking what could be his weapon for the appeal. It would be following the path that already saved another Spanish distance runner,

Adel Mechaal.

The Mechaal Way

In 2016, before the Rio Games, Mechaal was sanctioned for the same thing, three fouls in anti-doping controls, but he managed to get up to two precautionary ones and finally he was never punished because he showed that the system was failing, that it was crashing, that it had not worked correctly in the designated days. In fact, one possibility is that Katir will turn to the same legal team that worked on Mechaal's case in search of a similar resolution. In any case, the innkeeper and his lawyers have not yet decided what to do and this Wednesday they were still studying the file and the details of the three offenses.

"The Federation wishes to remember that an athlete provisionally suspended or with an open file does not meet the eligibility criteria," announced the Spanish Athletics Federation (RFEA) in a crude statement in which it did not express any desire regarding the athlete's appeal. The president of the organization,

Raúl Chapado

, was surprised by the notification of the sanction in Monaco, precisely at a World Athletics meeting, and announced a press conference this Thursday.

The credibility of all Spanish athletics now depends on the resolution of the Katir case, which has become a benchmark in recent times. Removing the doubles of

Álvaro Martín

and

María Pérez

in the march, the distance runner was the only medalist in the last World Cup and had already come from bronze in the 1,500 meters in the previous World Cup. Born in Alcazarquivir, Morocco, but raised from the age of five between Huesca and Mula, Katir was not able to shine in the lower categories until in 2019 he obtained a Spanish passport by residence - not by nature letter - and, after the pandemic, he stood out. In 2021 he took the national records of 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 meters and thus completed his presentation. Then, between his shyness and introspection, living in the heights of the Sierra Nevada High Performance Center, would come the medals, his victories in the Diamond League or his rivalry with the dominator

Jakob Ingebrigtsen

.

Now, however, at the starting line, the International Athletics Federation against Katir to see who can prove whether or not there were three faults by the athlete in the system. In the goal, the option of going to the Paris 2024 Games and getting a medal there.