In February 2024 the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), on behalf of World Athletics, reported an anti-doping rule violation against the Spanish Athlete Mohamed Katir for his Whereabouts Filing Failures and Missed Tests within a 12 month period:
- a Filing Failure on 28 February 2023;
- a Missed Test / Filing Failure on 3 April 2023;
- a Missed Test / Filing Failure on 10 October 2023.
Regarding the first Whereabouts Filing Failure in February 2023 the Athlete explained that he had received a call from his fiancée that she was feeling unwell. He immediately booked a flight to Portugal and updated his Whereabouts information.
Regarding his failure in April 2023 the Athlete explained that during the days before the Mssed Test multiple times he could not update his Whereabouts information in ADAMS due to technical problems with his App.
After the Missed Test in October 2023 he stated that he was surprised to see that his 60-minute time slot was set between 19:20 and 20:20. He asserted that there must have been a system error as prior he had set his 60 minutes time slot between 07:00 and 08:00 uur.
The AIU assessed and addressed the Athlete's explanations and evidence and made the following conclusions:
- The Athlete's flight to Portugal in February 2023 was booked 2 days before his departure and not last minute as claimed by the Athlete.
- He did not timely update his Whereabouts in February 2023 and provided inaccurate information.
- At the material time in April 2023 there had been no technical problems with ADAMS, nor were multiple log in attempts recorded.
- Before the Missed Test in April 2023 his updates in ADAMS were inaccurate and incomplete.
- On the day of the Missed Test in April 2023 he updated his Whereabouts 20 minutes after the arrival of the Doping Control Officer (DCO) and not prior to his 60-minutes timeslot in ADAMS as claimed.
- In October 2023 he had changed his 60-minutes time slot in ADAMS after the DCO had concluded his attempt to locate the Athlete.
Ultimately the Athlete admitted the anti-doping rule violation and signed and submitted an Admission of Anti-Doping Rule Violation and Acceptance of Consequences Form.
Therefore on 16 February 2024 the AIU decides to impose a 2 year period of ineligibility on the Athlete, starting on the date of the provisional suspension, i.e. on 7 February 2024.
